Resurrection
by RevengefulAddict
Summary: She was weak for him; he knew it. He would exploit her weakness and use it for all its worth. But what about her? What about the consequences? Sasuke forgot just how strong she truly was. SasuSaku, language, minor lemon, blood/violence, etc
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: We all know I don't own Naruto, or any of the characters, animals, weapons, shrubbery, or even the poor little logs that are oh-so-often mutilated with replacement-jutsus. –sobs- those poor logs!

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**Prologue**

The fire licked at the night air with the knowledge that soon its light would be exhausted. The wood underneath crackled as it sizzled away to ashes, sacrificing its life for the sake of the flame it supported. It was the cycle of life; one organism lived only to be the energy source of another, which in turn became life line for another organism higher up on the food chain.

The dancing fire took pride as it reflected within the dark pupils of two green eyes, their host depending on the burning embers for warmth. She, in turn, watched over her comrades, protecting them from any danger which might choose the opportune time to strike.

_A ninja waits until the time is right, _

_When the enemy sleeps and drops his guard, _

_When his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night, _

_That is the moment for a ninja to strike._

She could recite the words like her own last name, yet only once were they ever given to her. It was so like him to come up with something so poetic, intelligent, complex, and cunning. Had it not been for those words, they wouldn't have known who their true comrade was and who wasn't.

She still worshiped him, the enemy, for the memories of who he had been before; the person he was today seemed like a ghost, a mirage. It was all a masquerade, and the betrayal was only an act to fool them all. They _would _get him to remove the mask, _no matter what. _Because people cannot kill their inner-self as easily as they wish, she would put her life on the line for the sake of him.

_Crackle…crackle…pop…sizzle…crackle…_

The air was still, the night was quiet. Crickets sang their song in a soft lullaby, making Sakura wish she too could curl up in her sleeping bag and drift away. The day had been long, having walked all the way to the 8-tailed jinchuriki's village, only to find that it was _him_ who had teamed up with Akatsuki and _him _who had slain the man for the sake of his biju. She didn't know whether or not to be more disturbed by the fact that their former teammate had done this or the fact that Naruto would not say a word to anyone for the rest of the day.

Suddenly she heard a rustle in the bushes behind her, her guard instantly on alert, kunai ready in her hand. She stood up, leaned against a tree, then tossed the metal object in the direction of the sound, only to watch as a harmless rabbit scampered out. _Rabbits aren't awake at this time…_ she frowned, then gasped as a hand was placed over her mouth.

Two blood red eyes bore into hers as all consciousness began to slip away to the wind and her body went limp.

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RA: Well, not much to say here except let me know what y'all think! Ja ne :D


	2. Help Out a Comrade

**Chapter warning:** contains slight lemon. Don't worry, this is only going to happen ONCE in the whole story and is quite necessary for the plot. Just bear with me here, mkay?

**Disclaimer:** No. with a capital N.

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**Chapter 1**: Help Out a Comrade

-x-x-x-

The floor was damp and cold; dirt dug into her left arm and leg. Without opening her eyes, Sakura tried to figure out her surroundings by sound and feel. Echoes of water droplets falling lifelessly into puddles gave her the clue that she was in some sort of cave. Based on this analysis, she concluded the distant thundering noise was some sort of waterfall a ways off in the distance.

"I know you're awake, Sakura." A voice echoed just as melancholy as the drip-drop of the water falling against the cavern floor, "open your eyes."

_That voice…_ she realized before doing as told, finding herself lying on her side, face to face with…well, who was he anyways? _Friend? Foe? Lover? Traitor?_ Sakura couldn't tell, and as she looked into his dark charcoal eyes, she was at an even greater loss for describing the man before her.

Sasuke was lying on his side, parallel to her, with his head propped up in his hand as he watched the fearful girl's expression. Smirking, he reached out his hand, a gentle finger running over a deep cut on her arm—the touch burning like fire, the after shock stinging like ice.

"Sas…ke…kun…" she whispered out in disbelief.

"Shouldn't you, a medical ninja, have healed that already?" He asked condescendingly, yet she couldn't help but feel the seducing undertones in his words being transferred through his feather light touches.

His hand ran up her shoulder and to her face, where he gently caressed the innocent skin along her cheek. "You've grown." Her mouth fell open slightly as her body trembled at his touch; confusion and fear mixed with longing and desire. "I need you…" he whispered, leaning his face closer to hers, "…_Sakura." _

The last syllable of warm breath ghosted over her skin, causing a small, involuntary gasp to escape from between her lips. They were soon taken over by two others pressing breathtakingly against hers; a pair of lips that she had wanted for so long to kiss her as they were right now. Suddenly her hands were free and she was lying on her back, being straddled and kissed by her former teammate.

She couldn't stop him if she wanted to, and even if she could, she wouldn't. Her free hands, which could have reached for a kunai in her pocket, instead went to his head, weaving through his hair, and pulling him deeper into their fitful kiss. She felt as something slipped past her lips and began to caress the inside of her mouth--a small, feminine, yet wanton moan working its way out from between the two of them.

Pants and short breaths echoed of the walls of the cavern as their tongues struggled for dominance. She could only arch into the hand which unzipped her top and began caressing the soft, flat skin of her belly.

With his ever so trademark smirk Sasuke pulled away, nipping on her lower kiss-swolen lip lightly. He looked down at his work of art, the female ninja laying completely and willingly vulnerable before him. "I need your help…will you help me?" he asked quietly.

Nodding was the only way she could answer him. _How pathetic am I? _she thought as her mind finally came back to life. Just as Sasuke went to kiss her again, she protested, "Wait…what do you need help with? And what about the others? Are you going to come back to Konoha after this?"

Sasuke sighed, rummaging through her pouch and pulling out a kunai. Before she could act, he had ripped open the bandages wrapped around her chest. "You talk too much."

She shivered as the cold air reached the sensitive skin on her chest. Frowning, she collected a large amount of chakra in her left hand and sent it sailing towards his face. Sasuke, however, caught the projectile by her wrist and pinned it back above her head. Closing his eyes, he opened them once more to reveal a sharingan she had never seen before.

"I will use this if I have to." He whispered lowly in her ear.

She growled, "Looks like I don't have much choice anyways."

His other hand reached down to play with one of her nipples, earning him a small gasp. "You might have super strength, Sakura, but admit it…" He leaned forward, his lips only centimeters away from ear, "You're weak for me."

She would have continued to protest but when he slipped his hand below her shorts, Sakura instantly turned to clay in his hands.

_You're weak for me…_

It was true. Though she'd never admit it, she would be on her knees faster than you could say "Uchiha heir". She knew he'd never love her, but she also knew she'd always love him; fighting against those feelings was about as hopeless as getting him to return them.

_You're weak for me…_

She brushed off the thought like a dandelion in the wind. So what if he knew her weaknesses, while she had no idea of his? He wanted her, he _needed _her, and that's all she cared about, or at least, right at this moment.

_I'm weak for you._

* * *

She lay naked on the cavern floor, feeling spent but not at all used. No, even if she had been used, she would never admit it. Even if it did have the undertones of rape, she would deny it. Even if she was left shivering there, lying on the cold, wet stone, she bore no ill-will toward the man who had just taken her; such was heart of a woman in love.

Besides, he promised her he'd be back, that he needed to gather supplies for her. _Supplies for what? _She pondered, but didn't dare ask. He said he wasn't going to leave her, and she didn't want to test that. So, grabbing her shirt, she laid it over herself for warmth and fell back asleep.

A couple of hours had passed until Sasuke finally returned to the cave to find Sakura still fast asleep. Sitting down beside her, he reached into his bag to pull out a simple female outfit he had bought for her (bandages as well) and some kunais and shurikens since he had left her bag behind.

Sasuke's mind instantly reverted to the sleeping team they had left behind; He had realized that with her missing, it might distract them from chasing after him. After all, who would suspect their teammate had been kidnapped by the very person they were all looking for. Not likely. If anything, they'd suspect an enemy; maybe even Akatsuki, but not Sasuke himself.

He looked over at the girl, her pink hair disheveled from their earlier tryst, face slightly muddy from the sweat and dirt. But even still, he had to admit, she was quite pretty. And if it did turn out that she did produce an offspring, Sasuke had already decided he was satisfied with her being the one to carry on the lineage. She was smart, skilled with genjutsu, extremely strong and only had one weakness: him.

However, this was not to say he loved her by any means. No, she just lived up to his standards—that was all. He knew she was still madly in love with him and not liable to leave him, no matter how much she might threaten to; all of this making her perfect for his next big project.

Reaching over, he gently shook her shoulder, and immediately the girl was awake. "We need to get moving. I got you some new clothes; we can use your old ones to separate your scent, distracting them from finding you."

"So…I'm not going back then?" she asked, accepting the new clothes.

"No. From now on you'll be staying with me." He smirked, "that is what you wanted, correct?"

She knew he was talking about the day he left, the day she begged him so helplessly not to go; anger welled up inside her, "What if it isn't?" even though she had her back turned to him so she could wrap the new bandages around her chest, he could still sense her glaring.

"You love me." He stated simply.

"So? Just because I love you, doesn't mean that if you asked me to jump off a bridge that I would." She said, finally turning around as she pulled the new grey shirt over her head. It was a little baggy, but Sasuke hadn't really bothered to find something her size.

"Hn." He stood up then looked at her with his new sharingan eyes, "No, but I could make you anyways."

"Teme." She growled before throwing her hand toward his face. Sasuke of course caught once again.

"You really shouldn't test my patience." He lifted her chin so their eyes connected, sending her down a spiral into what was known as the Mangekyou Sharingan.

Every one of her fears was brought to the forefront as he confronted her in her world of pain and sorrow, "This is only a minute in Tsukuyomi, which isn't even half a second in reality. Need I go on or will you help me?" he confronted her, wondering if she was even listening to him as she looked around in horror.

Watching her parents fall dead, her comrades mutilated, feeling so very weak and helpless, she sobbed out, "Please! I'll help you!"

Suddenly she was back, chin still held in his hand, now looking only into black obsidian eyes. "Good," he answered curtly before yanking his hand away and walking over to his bag. "I got you some supplies as well." He handed her a few kunais and shurikens. "Anything else you need we can get on the way."

"On the way?" She asked, taking the metal weapons, "to where?"

He began to walk out of the cave and replied, "To the rest of my team."

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RA: Thank you anon for your review! I try to make the narration as well-written as possible, seeing as it makes up for half of the story.

I know this chapter and the prologue were relatively short, but I promise you that they will get longer as I progress. I use chapter breaks to create a sense of time passing and transition, and it just so happens that there is a lot of that in the beginning. My normal chapters are usually about 3500+ words (about 9-10 pages in MS word) and to give you an idea, this chapter was only 1600 (3-4 pages).

So that is all, Review please! :D


	3. Isn't it Ironic

Chapter 2: Isn't it Ironic

To say Naruto was frantic would have been an understatement. After Captain Yamato summoned Pakkuun and the other ninja dogs to search for Sakura's scent, they were lead to find several articles of clothing strewn about the forest in all different directions. The blonde dobe therefore came to the oh-so-brilliant conclusion that she had been kidnapped and her kidnapper had her naked, leading him to panick like a headless chicken.

Not to say that Yamato wasn't worried about her well-being either, but he was a little more concerned about who the enemy was, and why they wanted her. Was it a trap? Or was there more to it than that? Also, another question arose in his mind and he frowned.

"Naruto, have you ever tried to peek on Sakura?" He asked

"Eh?!" The blonde blushed furiously, "Y-yamato-taichou…wh-what kind of question is that?"

The man sighed, "Okay, so yes. And obviously she beat you to a pulp, right?"

"W-well…" Naruto looked away and muttered, face still red as a tomato, "I didn't see anything so I left."

"What about sneaking up or surprise attacks?"

"Oh, yeah. I spooked her one time and ended up with a bruise the size of a baseball around my eye…" Naruto trailed off, thinking about just how hard Sakura could punch and shuddering.

"So how come she wasn't able to get away this time? Surely she would have put up a fight." Yamato asked, finally making his point evident to the blonde.

"Huh…You're right. You would have thought she would have at least made enough noise to wake us up…" Naruto scratched his head.

"Exactly."

At this point Sai had returned to the group with two of the other ninja dogs, carrying her discarded shirt. "So do you think she left us on her own will?" he asked, having heard enough of the conversation.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Not a chance! Sakura-Chan would never do that! Not in a million years!"

Yamato sighed, "I think we should keep our options open. Perhaps she was given the choice of 'come quietly or your comrades die.'" He looked at the two sternly, "it happens more often than you would think."

Pakkun spoke up, dropping her headband by Yamato's feet. "If it's any consolation, I also picked up another familiar scent on here." He looked at Naruto. "Do you still have Sasuke's headband?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah…" he turned his backpack around his shoulder and began to dig through it. "Here." He set it down for the dog.

Pakkuun took a sniff of the old headband, then sakura's. "No doubt about it." The pug nodded. "Sasuke's scent is on here as well."

"What?!" Naruto exclaimed, his opinion voicing everyone's surprise. There was a resounding gut-dropping feeling among the three of them.

"Well that clears up the question of how she was kidnapped so stealthily." Yamato sighed, "If she was even kidnapped at all."

"Y…you don't think she went voluntarily, do you?" The blonde's jaw hung open slightly, blue eyes reflecting pain but also hope.

"I don't think so, but I do believe it's a possibility."

"Ah, right. Sakura did have feelings for Sasuke before he left, correct?" Sai asked.

The blonde looked down at the two headbands lying next to each other. "She…yeah." He smiled half heartedly, "I remember one time I transformed into Sasuke back when we were kids so I could ask her what she thought of me. But she tried to kiss me, thinking I was Sasuke." He laughed bitterly, staring at the ground, "To this day she's declined almost every time I've asked her on a date." Sai and Yamato watched as the boy stared at the two headbands with a smile on his face but pain in his eyes. They knew that if it did turn out that Sakura left them willingly, it would most likely be the end for the blonde jinchuriki.

"Lets head for the next village and try to ask around." Yamato suggested, trying to change the subject. "Maybe we can get a lead on them before they get too far away"

"Hai." Naruto agreed and Sai simply nodded.

* * *

"You can let go now." Sakura sighed, tired of being dragged along by her wrist. "I'm not going to run away."

Sasuke frowned, "If the others were to catch up to us, you wouldn't want Naruto to know you betrayed them, would you?"

"…no…" she spoke quietly, hanging her head in shame.

"Then I will hold onto you." He replied simply, and they continued walking on,

They finally reached the rendezvous point Sasuke had apparently set up with his team before going after Sakura. The leader made a quick introduction of their newest member before moving on to discuss other matters.

By now, the pink haired young woman wondered if her heart could sink any lower. She felt like she had left the good kids on the street to go join up with the bad kids in the alley; she knew she should run, but she knew the ramifications of doing so as well; Needless to say, the only place she'd be going is with them.

There was another female on this teamwho made Sakura feel a little uneasy. The medical kunoichi had just given Sasuke the one gift that could never be given again, and now she was left to wonder if she was just another attempt at reviving the clan, or maybe even just some stress relief. This girl- _Karin's her name, right?_- was well endowed in all the right areas; for Sasuke to chose her to be on his team must have meant she was strong as well. _I'm so inferior._

Karin hadn't been thrilled about a new addition to the team, much less a female addition, but had been warned before hand that if she had any qualms, she could leave. The redhead decided she could put up with the new girl for a little while until Sasuke was done with her—then, she'd have him all back to herself, she thought with a smirk. Sasuke didn't seem like the clingy type and Karin couldn't see him holding onto Sakura for more than he needed her for. _Speaking of which…what does he need this chick for anyways? All she seems like is emotional baggage._

"Madara had promised me his cooperation in helping me take down the elders in exchange for our loyalty to Akatsuki." Sasuke explained, "Now that we have given them the 8-tails, all that is left is my mission. However, I want to make absolutely sure that Madara was telling the truth, and seeing as I can't look him in the eyes to use my technique, the only way to find out is to go to the man who really knows everything that happened that night…my brother."

"But didn't you kill him?" the one named Suigetsu questioned.

"When I was training under Orochimaru, I learned more than just fighting techniques…" Sasuke explained, "He also showed me how to bring back the dead."

Sakura's jaw dropped slightly and eyes widened. _He can't be serious! That's a forbidden jutsu!_

Having caught her expression, Sasuke closed his eyes, "However, the technique requires very precise chakra control and knowledge of medical jutsu. And knowing that I killed his master, I highly doubt Kabuto is willing to do anything I ask."

_Now it's all fitting into place…_ She thought to herself. She pulled her plain black cloak closer to her as a chill ran up her spine. But as she thought of his implications, she frowned, defiance building up in her, "What makes you think I'm going to cooperate?" she said, finally speaking her mind.

Sasuke smirked, sending her into a Tsukiyomi of their previous misbehavior, then taking her out. "Need I remind you?"

Sakura bit her lip as she worked to fight the blush forming on her face. Anyone would have thought he was using the jutsu to instill fear into her, but only they knew what he was really referring to. She nodded humbly, looking down in shame, and earning a wicked grin from Karin.

"I really wouldn't want to get on Sasuke-sama's bad side if I were you." She leaned over to whisper.

Sakura, however, was not afraid of the red-headed girl and turned to glare at her, "And I wouldn't advise you get on mine either."

"Psh. What can you do? You're just a medical ninja." Karin set her hands on her well formed hips. "Like you know anything about combat?"

"Sheesh Karin, one of these days you're going to be eating your words for breakfast, lunch and dinner!" Suigetsu rolled his eyes as he leaned against a familiar looking sword.

Sakura looked over at him, the sword, then Sasuke, "is that…zabuza's sword?" she asked knowingly, yet in disbelief.

"Heh, the one and only!" Suigetsu gloated freely.

She wanted to run. She wanted to be anywhere but here. How could Sasuke team up with someone who would steal something so sacred? Granted, they had fought Zabuza for a long period of time, but she remembered how he went down so heroically, killing the one man who oppressed the tiny village hidden in the mist. She remembered how Sasuke and Naruto fought together to save their sensei; she remembered how they protected each other against Haku; She remembered when they were all still a team. Memories flooded back to her, as they did quite often, but now, she wanted nothing more than to get rid of them.

Because now, Sasuke was different. He had tried to tell them, Sai had tried to tell them, Kabuto and Orochimaru had tried to tell them…the Sasuke they once knew was no more. And now she knew just how right they had all been, and how much she hadn't and didn't want to hear it. He was teaming up with the enemy, with only one mindset and no consideration for anyone or anything else. And they all tried to warn her.

"What's wrong? Afraid of weapons?" Karin taunted.

Sakura glared, "The only thing I'm afraid of is not having the chance to shove your foot in your mouth."

Sasuke rubbed his temples. He really should have thought of this. Well, to be quite honest, he did, but had hoped Sakura had been mature enough to handle Karin's airs. "If you two don't shut up, I won't hesitate to kill you both," he said so simply that Sakura felt herself want to melt into the ground. She knew he wouldn't, but the way he had said it could have made anyone have second thoughts about uttering another word.

"Aw, Sasuke, don't be so harsh! Wouldn't it be fun to see Karin get her ass handed to her?" Suigetsu teased, "and I'm interested in what your new girlfriend can do."

"I WILL kill you!" Karin threatened, and Sakura giggled. Well, at least she had Suigetsu on her side. Karin looked like she was going to throw a punch at the man, but then stopped, "We've got to get out of here. I can sense their chakra moving closer."

"Sure it's them?" Sakura asked

Karin glared, "I know the chakra of Konoha Shinobi when I sense it." She smirked, "It feels like shit."

The pink haired kunoichi was about to retort when Suigetsu made the comeback for her, "and how would you know what that feels like how? Oh wait, you take your baths with the pigs, I forgot." Karin rolled up her sleeves, ready to pound the water-type. "And as much as you want to insult Sakura-san, I think you've forgotten that Sasuke is a former Konoha shinobi as well. You might want to think before you speak."

Karin backed down, bringing down the boiling pot of water to an even bubbling. _Point for Suigetsu._

"Lets move." Sasuke commanded sharply, walking past the bickering bunch. The door slammed shut to the abandoned shack with a creak and a bang. Juugo went out silently, followed by Karin, who didn't feel up to bickering anymore.

"Don't mind Karin." Suigetsu comforted the new girl, "She's just jealous 'cause Sasuke won't lay an eye on her. And she's all talk…pretty useless in battle too. I don't even know why he's dragging her along, except that she's good at sensing chakra and supplying it to others."

Sakura smiled slightly to him before following the others out, "She reminds me of my old self, a little bit."

* * *

"DAMNIT!"

The creeky old shack reverberated with the sound of Naruto slamming his fist on the wall, "We were so close…" he knelt down to the floor, fingertips running along the splintery wall as tears fell from his eyes, "Sakura-chan…" he whispered.

Why? Why was it that every time they got so close, it seemed like the enemy always managed to slip through their hands? All of the villagers whom they had talked to had claimed to have seen her. A couple of them confirmed that it had seemed like Sakura was being dragged along against her will, which gave Naruto a little comfort, but made him want to pound Sasuke that much more.

Sai wasn't in much of a better mood either. Though he was happy to be feeling emotions, the pain they caused him were uncomfortable and unusual to him. He knelt next to Naruto and set a hand on his shoulder--his book told him that's what friends do in such situations. Naruto looked up to see there were tears in his teammate's eyes as well.

"Sai…are you crying?"

The former ROOT member nodded with his trademark smile. "Yes…it seems Sakura was someone special to me as well. I think I am beginning to understand the meaning of bonds." Naruto smiled weakly and sai continued, "And I am understanding why one would want to protect them..." he paused, "that is why I vow to help you bring Sakura and Sasuke-kun back."

The smile on the blonde's face became official. This was just like what Sakura said to him when Sasuke had gotten away with Orochimaru not too long ago. Together. They would bring back their teammates together, and they would stop at nothing until they did. Now, it was all he lived for, and he wouldn't let anything, not even death, stop him. Naruto stood up, wiping his tears away with his sleeve. "Thank you, Sai."

"As much as I would like to go after Sakura and Sasuke, I think it's best that we report this back to the Hokage and let her decide what actions should be taken." Yamato spoke up once the two were finished speaking.

Naruto wanted to protest, but was too tired and worn out to argue. Nodding silently, he followed the former ANBU officer out of the rickety shack, only to be faced with a breathtaking view of Keikoku lake, situated between the tall mountains of the Goroku range. The sun was peaking through the misty air between the mountains, glistening against the waters of the lake, and bathing the whole valley in a erethreal golden glow.

And it was just what the blonde jinchuriki needed to get his hopes back up.

* * *

Sakura watched at a distance as her former team walked in the reverse direction, back to Konha, back _home._ A feeling of sickness and longing welled up inside her as she watched them leave, partly wanting to be found and rescued. She wanted to be with them, laughing at Sai's social awkwardness or playfully beating-up Naruto for his thick-headedness. That was where she belonged—not here, with this pack of wolves on a mission to seek and destroy.

"Lets go." The leader of the pack commanded, and they set off in the opposite direction, Sasuke leading the group and Sakura following behind.

Often times as they walked, Suigetsu would try to make conversation with her, which she found to be somewhat relieving.

"Everybody's traveling with Sasuke for their own reason, but we're all sorta interconnected too." He explained.

"Whats your reason?" she asked

He pointed to the sword on his back, "I want to collect all the swords of greatest swordsmen. My next goal is the samehanda wielded by Hokashige Kisame."

"Kisame…he's the blue guy that traveled around with Itachi, right?" she asked in a low whisper, having learned that merely mentioning Sasuke's older -deceased- brother often times put the young Uchiha in a foul mood.

"Hai. We grew up in the same village." He explained.

"I was told, the Samehanda can absorb and consume the chakra of it's victims, right?"

"Yup. And there's no other sword out there like it." He gazed off dreamily.

"Soo…why's Karin tagging along?"

Suigetsu rolled his eyes, "She claimed she had something to do as well, but no one knows what it is. Most likely she just wants to be by Sasuke." He explained, and Sakura felt a surge of jealousy form in the pit of her stomach. "But it's funny, 'cause he always ignores her when she hits on him. We all know she doesn't have a chance, but she refuses to give up." He whispered. She laughed, it reminded her of Naruto a little bit.

Suddenly she felt relief and a heady feeling of power. She whispered to him even quieter, "so, he's never like, slept with her or anything?"

Suigetsu laughed out loud, "Are you kidding?" the amphibious swordsman let out a guffaw that 'caused Karin to look back with anger. She knew they were whispering about something, and most likely it was her. But she continued walking.

Sui went back to whispering, "He doesn't even look at her. I have my suspicions that he's gay, but there's really no telling."

Sakura blushed a little bit, remembering Konohamaru's male version of the harem jutsu, then turned even more red at the thought of their rendezvous in the cave, "No, no. I know he's straight. I'm just surprised…I mean, Karin is quite pretty and well endowed…I just figured…"

He shook his head, "But she flaunts it, which combined with her shitty attitude is a major turn-off." He grinned, "If I had to chose between a girl like you and a girl like her, I'd chose you in a second."

She shook her head laughing, "thanks." She knew he was hitting on her, but she had the feeling that it was just that kind of flirt that wasn't anything serious.

Night fell on the crew as they walked and, being in no hurry, they decided to stop and set up camp. They had to be careful, however; Realizing that the Raikage was on the hunt for his brother's murderer (_oh the irony_, Sakura thought) the quintet had to stay on alert.

The five ate a quick dinner, cut somewhat short by some alarming behavior on Sasuke's part. As they ate the plain white rice, Sasuke suddenly dropped his chopsticks, grasping his eye in pain.

"It's the Sharingan, isn't it?" Sakura was the first one to say anything.

He glared upward at her, being met with an equally defiant stare back. Acknowledging her her intensity, he lowered his guard and nodded.

"Let me see what I can do." She offered, and Sasuke, being in such pain that the whole side of his face felt like it was being hammered in, was in no position to refuse.

"What can you do?" Karin challenged.

"Sasuke wasn't the only one who became a Sanin's apprentice." She sat down next to him and hovered her hands over his eye, replying rather matter-of-factly as her hands began to glow a green healing aura.

"The two other Sanin were Tsunade and Jiraya, correct?" Juugo asked, finally seeming to take interest in the conversation.

She nodded, "Tsunade-sama taught me everything I know."

Sasuke looked at her, seeming to understand where she was going with the conversation. "And Jiraya trained Naruto." He stated simply, quietly.

Concentrating on examining his eye, it took Sakura a few minutes to respond, "It's ironic, isn't it?"

"Hn."

The chakra around her hands faded as she set them down in her lap. "You shouldn't use that sharingan very often. When you do, it's stressing the optic nerves responsible for carrying what you see to the brain and breaking down the myelin sheath surrounding the nerves, which is causing your blurry vision and pain. I can gather some ingredients for a medicine that will help rebuild that sheath and slow down the progression, but if you continue using it, you'll eventually go blind." She explained objectively and warningly. Little did she know, jaw-dropped Karin would never doubt her medical abilities again.

Sasuke stood up wordlessly and went into his tent, leaving the three original Team Hebi members in awe of what just took place. Sakura worked on picking up the rice bowl Sasuke had dropped and cleaning up her own, acting as if nothing had happened.

"Oi, Sakura-san." Suigetsu spoke up, "Who's this Naruto he spoke of?"

"Our other teammate, he…" She began to speak more, then passed it off as a grunt, wanting to leave the conversation at that as she gathered everyone's empty dishes and worked to discard them.

"He was down at the lake today, you idiot." Karin reminded him rather harshly.

"Oh, the blonde haired kid. I remember now."

She wished they would shut up. She wanted to forget about Naruto, forget about her past, forget about how much she missed everyone. Perhaps that was why Sasuke was always so cold, perhaps that's why she felt him go rigid when Sasuke said his name. It reminded him of the past, a past he wanted so desperately to forget. Especially now, she assumed. Sasuke had told them that he wanted to kill the elders, but there was something about the way he had said it that implied that the rest of the village would go down as well—the very same village he had grown up in as a child.

"Who was the other guy he was with? The black haired one." Sui prodded for more answers.

Though her back was turned to them as she rolled out her mat, she clenched her fists tightly. "That was Sai." She responded. "I'm going to bed now." Sakura announced with a slight snap to her voice.

Suigetsu yawned loudly, stretching his arms above his head, "Yeah, I guess I'll check in now too."

Juugo, who sat up in one of the tree branches, had already offered to keep watch and nodded silently. He watched as Karin rolled out her mat and Suigetsu put out the fire. Though it was a rather chilly night, the smoke only gave away their position; The blankets and Akatsuki cloaks kept everyone warm enough, so the fire was no longer needed.

_How Ironic._

* * *

RA: and that's that. Sorry that this chapter took so long to get up. My inspiration is running a little low, but I've got a pretty good idea where I want this to go and things that I want to incorporate, so I should be updating more frequently.

Also, I suppose I forgot to mention this, but the story is following chapter 415 of the manga, minus the whole Naruto training with Fukasaku. Though I think that might come in later; Haha, I like to make things up as I go. Planning just doesn't suit me XP


	4. Wake Up Call

**Disclaimer:** lots of swearing towards the end of the chapter. But you're all used to that, right?

* * *

**Chapter 3:** Wake Up Call

x-x-x

They followed him silently the next day, with not so much as a five-second argument between Karin and Suigetsu that Sakura had become so accustomed to. It was as if the pressure around them was so strong that it was forcing any words one might dare speak back down their vocal cords.

She followed in the back, constantly re-assessing the situation. She woke up, expecting it all to be a dream that morning, only to find herself surrounded by the same living nightmare. It was all real. She had left Naruto, Sai, Yamato…all of Konoha behind for this. What was "this" anyways? Sasuke? A man who only was dragging her along for her abilities, while she followed him for his presence, for his unrequited love?

She scolded herself for being so pathetic. Regret was sinking in deeper than ever before, creating a new feeling in her heart that even she couldn't understand. What was this? The desire to grab Sasuke by the shirt and punch him in the face; never before had she felt such _rage_ towards her former teammate, but it was here and now, brimming at the surface, just waiting for a chance to escape.

The chance came as Karin suddenly spoke up. "I sense three large amounts of chakra heading towards us." she announced, causing the rest to stop in their tracks.

"Konoha?" Suigetsu asked, pulling the large katana off of his back, readying for an attack.

"No…they resemble Kumogakure's chakra signature."

"Aw man, not these guys. Seriously, what is it with people and their Jinchuriki. You'd think we're taking their Hokage or something. Most villages are glad to get rid of them."

Instantly she thought of Naruto and how most of his younger days were spent being scorned and hated by the village. Things had certainly changed.

* * *

In her chair, Tsunade slammed her clenched fist on the desk as she hung her head, forcing a dent into the smooth woodwork. Naruto, Sai and Yamato stood behind it, all looking away, with even shizune enraged. Through clenched teeth and furrowed, angry brows they could hear her curse her youngest apprentice.

"How could she?" Shizune grappled in disbelief.

"Er, Hokage-sama, if it's any consolation, the villagers nearby said they saw her being dragged along in what looked to be against her will. We have reason to believe that Uchiha Sasuke is holding her hostage." As Yamato explained, Naruto clenched his fists impossibly tight.

"Sakura could get away if she wanted," was Tsunade's snap as she raised her eyes to look at them

"But didn't Sakura…erm, love Uchiha Sasuke?" Sai spoke up, "I read in a book that when people are in love, they want to be together. If she loves him, it would make sense that she wouldn't want to leave him, even if he kidnapped her, right?"

Tsunade rubbed her forehead, "Yes, but it's not that simple, Sai. Even if she is in love with him, he is the enemy, and as a shinobi, she has the responsibility of putting her duties before her emotions." She folded her hands, "in not doing so, she has betrayed Konoha."

"So what if she left with him because she loved him? It's like when he left to go to Orochimaru for power. But still, we're determined to bring him back." Naruto erupted, unable to stand the constant criticism of his best friend. "So she messed up, and I fully intent to beat Sasuke to a pulp, but we're still going to bring them back, and I'll personally make sure of it." He stared them down with such determined eyes, it could have been easily mistaken for a death glare.

They were all silent at the blonde's outburst until Tsunade sighed, "I believe in you Naruto, you know that. But the thing is that the Raikage wants Sasuke's head in turn for his brother. The same thing happened when Hiashi Hyuuga protected Hinata from being abducted by one of Kumogakure's men and ended up killing the man. The ambassadors from Kumogakure denied the attack and insisted that Hiashi be put to death for killing their man. They're an unreasonable bunch." She closed her eyes, folding her hands in front of her face, "and they want us to find Sasuke and kill him and his team."

"Not that I disagree that he deserves it…" she trailed off, opening one eye at Naruto, "but being that he also took out Orochimaru, and that he has information on Akatsuki, I also have my reasons to capture him alive."

"Why do you think he teamed up with Akatsuki though?" Naruto asked just as the door to the Hokage's room opened.

"Because," a woman with grey hair entered, "Someone must have told him the truth about Itachi." Tsunade internally groaned, but for the elders to be visiting _her_ –usually the other way around- meant there was grounds for concern.

"What do you mean the _truth_?" Naruto asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow at the two dried prunes.

"Itachi didn't massacre the Uchiha clan out of spite. He was working with us as a double agent to watch the clan; when it turned out they were planning a coup de tat lead by none other than his father, we ordered Itachi to kill them all in order to keep peace in the village and prevent a 4th shinobi war." The old man following behind her explained.

Tsunade's eyes widened. She hadn't been told about this, "But Uchiha Itachi was in ANBU, so the only one who could command him was the Hokage. Are you saying the third ordered him to kill his own family?"

"That's exactly what we're saying, Tsunade-hime." The female elder explained, "But Itachi couldn't bring himself to kill Sasuke." She snorted, "Things would have been so much easier if he just had. We wanted to get rid of Sasuke when he was young, knowing something like this would happen, but the third was too soft and wouldn't allow it."

"But the bigger issue here is, who told Sasuke?" the other elder pointed out, "Obviously there's someone in Akatsuki who knew the truth and used it to get him to join them."

"You…you mean Itachi was a good man?" Naruto asked dumbfounded, completely missing the point.

"Most peaceful man in the world. He knew that if the Uchiha's were to try and overtake the village, it would put Konoha in a state of instability, and other villages would try to take advantage of the situation. That's why he did what did."

"But I don't understand…why would telling Sasuke the truth make him join Akatsuki?" Sai asked.

"There is…a possibility that there is one other Uchiha left."

"Another one?"

"Uchiha Madara."

Tsunade's eyes widened, "He's dead! Shodaime took him out, or did you forget? There's no wa—"

"Actually, I believe they're right." Kakashi interrupted her as entered through the window, eyes still cast on his orange icha icha paradise book. "Naruto, remember the akatsuki member with the orange mask?"

"Yeah, the one we couldn't hit?"

"You remember well." Kakashi tucked the book in his pouch and finally looked up, "when I got a glance of the one eye that was visible…it was identical to the sharingan. I did a little bit of research on the Uchiha clan and learning he was-is- the most formidable Uchiha, I wouldn't be surprised if he's still alive. With my one sharingan I can create a vortex, sending people into another dimension. It would be no great feat for the greatest sharingan master that ever lived to be able to jump time and space with two eyes"

"Also, Madara was the only one who could control all the tailed beasts. If Akatsuki is trying to collect them all, they would need someone who can seal them and tame them. Madara is the only man who can." The man with the grey beard and glasses explained

"So now we deal with not only Sasuke, but Madara?" Tsunade rubbed her forehead for the umpteenth time in the last ten minutes, letting out an exasperated sigh

"Sasuke isn't just going to come with us nilly willy." Kakashi added, "We've already gone through numerous attempts to bring him back forcefully."

"So you're saying we should coax him back emotionally, Kakashi-senpai?" Yamato asked

"From what I know about Sasuke, that's about the only way to get to him. Eh, Naruto?" he threw the blonde an understanding, sideways glance.

"There's one more problem with Sasuke knowing the truth." Homura added

"You're assuming he wants your heads on a platter?" Tsunade asked.

"We're quite positive. The kid is brash and run by emotions." He shook his head, "You'd think he would just make up his mind about who he wants to kill."

Naruto was at a loss. Sure, he wanted to beat some sense into his old teammate, but he couldn't stand the elders talking about Sasuke like he was some psychotic enemy. And if the third hadn't interfered, the elders would have killed Sasuke before Naruto got the chance to know him and become best friends with him. He was talking to the true murderers, and quite honestly, Naruto didn't blame Sasuke for wanting to exterminate them.

"So what do you suggest we do?" Tsunade asked.

"Kill him and Madara." The woman replied simply.

"HELL NO!" Naruto lashed out, "Madara? Sure, why not. But I won't let you lay a hand on Sasuke. Why is everything always doom and gloom with you two? And everyone is sick of you cold hearted jerks; you wanted to take an innocent life to protect your own back then, and you still want to now. I'd much rather take yours in order to protect his." He growled.

"So typical of a beast." The male elder shook his head. "Such irrationality and murderous intent."

Naruto's brows furrowed impossibly tight as he grasped the elder by neck of his robe, staring into the wrinkled old face, "You want to say that a little louder?"

"I said, so typ—" he began, but Naruto had already raised his fist.

"NARUTO. Stop it." Tsunade yelled. "Fragile antiques will die eventually. Don't put it on your record."

The blonde relaxed, stepping a few feet back, still glaring at the two.

"So what will it be Tsunade-hime? Are you going to be soft and let the village fall apart or do your duty?"

She closed her eyes, "I will have ANBU guard you two and your house, we will see what we can do about Madara, but as for killing Uchiha Sasuke, I refuse. He is more valuable to us captured and alive than dead."

The elder female narrowed her eyes, causing the wrinkles in her forehead to crease deeper, "You're a coward, Tsunade." She shook her head, heading out of the room, "It will be your downfall."

"And don't bother with the ANBU. A single Uchiha brat isn't going to take us down so easily, even if he _does_ possess mangekyo." The man exited, shutting the door behind him.

Once the two had exited, Tsunade let out a deep sigh. "I want you three to hunt out Sasuke and Sakura. And just…see what you can do."

"Osssu! I'll bring them back no matter what!" Naruto beamed with determination, "Don't you worry, Tsunadebaa-chan."

The blonde haired woman rubbed her temples, "will you stop calling me that?"

* * *

"We will not fight them."

"Are you crazy, Sasuke? What are we going to do? Stand here and let them beat us up?" Suigetsu pointed his sword at the Uchiha.

"We're going to run, for now." He turned to Sakura, " Create a gap in the earth."

"Hai." She nodded, thankful the chance to release her anger. Focusing her chakra in her fist, she concentrated as she threw her fist behind her, then slammed it on the ground. Glaring at earth as if it was Sasuke himself, the earth began to split apart, creating a large ravine.

"Suigetsu, use your abilities to create water in the bottom of this." He instructed, and the nymph like ninja did as told. Now, in the middle of the forest, they had an outlet of escape and decent place to hide.

Karin, rendered speechless once again, followed her teammates as they ran down the side of the newly-formed ravine. At the bottom, Suigestsu enclosed them in a bubble-like shield—much like the one Zabuza had trapped Kakashi in—and sunk them underwater, letting the river carry them away. The pressure of the water served to lengthen the ravine just far enough so that it connected perpendicularly to one already present.

The three ninja chasing them, not noticing the new ravine, merely leapt over it and continued in the direction they were heading through the dense forest.

"You are such a Leaf ninja." Suigetsu shook his head as they rode inside the artificial bubble, "when will I get to chop off some limbs?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, "needless battle will have more of them after us. It's best to have them headed in the wrong direction and the water will get us where we need to go faster."

Silently, they floated downstream under the cloak of the water above them until the depth of the water receded. They were left standing in a mere puddle of water, which filtered off into tiny trickles in all different directions between through corroded rocks. The grey sandstone earth that surrounded them was alive with various trees and algae, which served to darken the cave-like crevice further and humidify the air. As they walked through the ravine, it became even narrower, barely wide enough for one person to get through.

When they emerged out of the canyon, they were faced with a nice view of the bleak grey sky, a large, ominous cliff, and the sharp rocks that created an uneven terrain, which they were to cross in order to reach their destination. _Which was were, exactly?_

As Sasuke was prepared to venture the earth, Suigetsu sat down on a large boulder, sighing tiredly "Can we take a break, man? I'm tired!"

"You're always tired! Now get off your lazy butt and move!" Karin scolded.

"Hey…life actually exists out here!" he pointed off into the trees they were surrounded by.

They turned to see where he beckoned, finding a quaint little shack all very well-built by the looks of it. "We can see where we are"

"You really think some stranger is going to give a bunch of guys with Akatsuki cloaks directions like an old buddy?" Karin raised an eyebrow.

"So we just toss them aside." Sui suggested, "It's not like we were ever really a part of Akatsuki, just working along with them to get them what they wanted."

Sasuke nodded, "We'll go see. Everyone toss their cloaks over here; we'll pick them up when we come out."

Being the only one without an Akatsuki cloak, she watched as everyone of Eagle dropped their cloaks by a large, moss covered tree. She couldn't help but be perturbed at her 'leader's' instructions; The Sasuke she remembered would have never bothered with something such as this and would instead rely on his senses for direction. She could only grapple what his ulterior motives were.

With the rest of his comrades and Sakura behind him, he stood on the dark, moistened, yet splintery wood of the front porch as he knocked firmly on the front door of the shack. As always, Sakura was amazed by his ever-present calm strength; while nerves ran up her as if her chakra were energized, Sasuke breathed easily, shoulders relaxed, chin up in almost a daring manner.

The door slowly opened to reveal a young woman a little older than Sasuke, perhaps in her twenties, but still quite lovely. Both females in the team tensed, Karin visibly, Sakura internally.

"Come in you poor children!" She beckoned them as they all wondered what gave her the ability to call them children.

"No thank you, we're just wondering where we are, that's all." Sasuke explained.

"I know you are, Sasuke of the Uchiha clan." She smiled warmly. "But I won't tell you until you let me do a reading for you all."

He raised an eyebrow, "How do you know my name?"

"The same way I knew you were coming." She opened the door wide and stepped aside to hold it open, "Now come, come! I just made some tea for you all."

Stepping in warily, Sakura followed Sasuke as he seemed to be curious about this woman. Indeed, everyone was. She was a psychic, from the looks of it. _Explains living in the middle of nowhere. Probably cast out of her village, most likely. _Sakura thought to herself.

They sat themselves around a large table on comfortable silk pillows. The woman with medium-length blonde hair poured a soft green tea into ornate glass cups each decorated with a sign of the zodiac. Sakura noted how she looked like a regular shinobi, minus the corresponding hitate of a designated village; had her hair and eyes been a few shades lighter and face a little narrower, she could have passed as Ino's identical twin. Setting the steaming kettle on a hot-plate in the middle of the table, the young blonde took her seat among them, looking at each intently.

"Excuse me, miss, but you haven't told us your name." Sakura asked politely.

"Oh, how rude of me. Naturally, I know all your names, I forget you don't know mine." She laughed "I am Shimizu Arisa." She bowed, "It is my honor to be in the presence of such great shinobi." Looking up, she glanced at Sasuke and Sakura, a flash of sadness in her eyes, which Sasuke immediately caught.

"Please, if you could just 'read us' and tell us where we are." Sasuke asked patiently enough, yet the rest couldn't deny the annoyance in his voice.

"Very well, if you four would please step outside the room, I would like to talk with Uchiha-san in private."

Sakura stood up first, then Suigetsu, Juugo, and lastly Karin, who shot a menacing glare at the blonde fortune-teller. Arisa merely ignored it.

Outside the room, Karin pressed her ear against the wall, ignoring Suigetsu who shook his head in disgust. "Y'know, you can just ask Sasuke what she said later."

Not hearing anything, she crossed her arms, "Two problems with that. One, you know Sasuke, like he's going to tell us? Two, I wanna make sure that she doesn't try to make any moves."

Outer Sakura remained calm, sitting against the wall opposing the room. Inner Sakura couldn't deny that she for once agreed with Karin.

"Aren't you a little curious, Suigetsu-kun?" Sakura asked timidly.

"Hm!" Karin set her hands on her shapely hips in victory. "See, little goody-two-shoes wants to know too!"

Sakura growled, "I am NOT a goody-two-shoe!" she tightened her fists, "I am a chunin kunoichi from Konoha. I have seen death, I've been up to my elbows in blood from the surgeries I've performed, I left the people I cared for the most for a scum bag that treats me like I don't exist." Sakura stood up and gripped the collar of Karin's shirt, "And if you want to insult me one more time, I won't hesitate to kill you." She glared, gathering chakra in her other fist

Karin narrowed her eyes, "Try it, _Baita*_. It'll be the last thing you do."

When Suigetsu noticed the blue aura surrounding Sakura's fist and his eyes widened. _She's not going to do it is she?_ As Sakura brought her fist back to wind up for a punch he shouted, "Wait! Sakura-chan, don't!"

Sakura turned to look at him, releasing Karin from her grasp.

Karin flattened out her shirt in front as Sakura stood there, stunned; desperately failing to comprehend what had just happened. She had totally lost it, totally let out every emotion building up inside her, and was ready to let out every drop of her chakra onto the redhead in her hands. Had Suigetsu not stopped her, she would have killed Karin for sure.

"And Karin! Hara guzuchi o tataku na!*" He sighed, "Honestly, you let your mouth run way too much."

Narrowing her eyes, Sakura walked past the red head out of the narrow hallway, bumping shoulders with her as Karin refused to move out of the way.

"I swear to god, girls are such a pain in the ass." Suigetsu shook his head as Sakura rouinded the corner and proceeded to walk out of the shack. The front door closed with a slam, shaking the entire shack.

Outside, Sakura leaned her forehead on the damp wooden beam that held the front porch up. Tears began to fall down her cheeks as she cried silently. She disgusted herself, but there was nothing she could do about it. She was still weak—every time things got difficult, she'd lose it. She cried after Sasuke in their fight with Haku, She cried as she held him when the curse seal first began to take over during the Chunin exams—that time she could only cry out to Naruto to help them. She cried for him when he left, she cried for him when he was gone, _And now, even as he's here with me, I still cry for him_

_And Naruto…_

Oh how she's cried for him too. When she saw him all bandaged up in the hospital, after his fight to bring Sasuke back to her…it broke her heart more than she would ever let on. When they first fought Kabuto and he was about to take Naruto's life, she cried for him too. When he went Kyuubi form, completely losing all sense of self, she cried for him to come back. _And now, even though he's always been there for me, I abandoned him for my selfishness. I left him to feel the heartache of not only one loss but two. _

The tears poured down her cheek in rapid torrents, unable to hold them back. There was nothing she could do at this point but cry, and god damn, she needed to.

"_Still so quick to cry, eh Sakura-chan?"_

She could still Naruto's teasing voice as he would once again rush to protect her.

_How weak am I? I've always told myself I'd be the one to save them. _As she held onto the beam, she curled her hand into a fist, pulling her chin up and taking a deep breath. She wiped away her tears on the back of her hands, sniffling away the last bits of self-pity and sulking. _I will protect them. I'll bring Sasuke back and I'll make sure Akatsuki doesn't get their filthy hands on Naruto. _

Closing her eyes, she took one last deep breath and exhaled. _No more crying. There's no turning back, so I'll just have to find a way to deal with it._ Inner Sakura patted her on the back.

The front door opened behind her and the turned, expecting to see Karin or Suigetsu. Instead Sasuke stood there, looking exceptionally menacing. _Aw shit. Karin probably told him what I did…I'm in for it now.

* * *

_**Translations:**

Baita: slut  
Hara guzuchi o tataku na!: shut the f*ck up!

Figured these would be more fun in Japanese! Anyways, this is totally going to deviate from where the manga is now. Konoha isn't going to be attacked…yet. I'm not sure if it will in the future. But no training with fugaku, so that'll be different. Oh, and in my story the eight tails doesn't get away—they seal him for good. Maybe I'll make a point to note this in the story later on.

At any rate, I'm sorry for the delay in updating. I just got done writing a 14 page paper for my AP English 12 class and I am still grappling for ideas for a short story we have to write by December 1st. (If only we could write a fanfiction! I'm horrible at original stories!) Anyways, updates will probably be less frequent in these next few months with the holidays and midterms coming up. This is my apology in advance!

(P.S- thank you everyone for your kind reviews! You guys are what inspire me to keep writing n.n)


	5. Nobody Knows

**Chapter 4: Nobody Knows

* * *

**

"_Light thinks it travels faster than anything, but it is wrong.  
No matter how fast light travels,  
it finds the dark has gotten there first and is waiting for it."  
-Teri Prachetti_

He quickly walked past Sakura, practically ignoring her, and set his hands on the rails of the front porch. Arching his back, he let out a sigh of frustration. _I haven't seen him like this in so long…oh man! I'm curious!_

"Sasuke—"

"She wants to speak to you next."

"So you're not mad—"

"GO!" he turned slightly and snapped

She jumped timidly at his outburst, but then curled her fists, her eyebrows arching downward in a v-shape.

She growled lowly, causing him to turn his whole body, "I'll go whenever I damn well please." Walking up to him, she poked her finger to his chest in a daring manner and lowered her voice, "Don't think that because I gave myself to you that I'm your slave. I am NOT your stress relief and I refuse to be treated like a worthless whore."

He had been somewhat shocked at the ferocity of her words but then confused by her last sentence, "I assure you, you are neither. But you knew from the start, Sakura chan…" he lifted his hand to brush away a few locks of pink hair away from her cheek, caressing it lightly, "you could have fought me back then…" He ran his hand down her cheek to tip her chin up, lowering his voice to a husky whisper, "even as I had you screaming my name."

She was about to protest before he kissed her harshly, pinning her against the outside wall of the cabin. She tried to push him away but he caught her hands and pinned them above her head, "You're _mine_." he snapped menacingly before launching back onto her kiss-swollen red lips. They surfaced, heavy breathing, realizing there was no place for iniquitous behavior that wouldn't leave them without splinters in the most uncomfortable places.

Breathing heavily with her hands still pinned to the wall, he spoke softly as he looked down, "She's waiting for you."

"Hands?" Sakura raised an eyebrow and Sasuke yanked his hands away from her wrists as if they had burned him. With his eyes still cast on the ground, she walked past him in silence. She was trying to act as if she had it all under control, that it wasn't anything that confused her at all. She pretended to be emotionless, collected. As she walked by the three waiting in the hallway, she didn't even glance at them. She would act as if they were dead to her, that everyone was dead to her. It seemed to have gotten him by for so long, wouldn't it work for her?

But in the end, she wasn't calm. She didn't have the answers, and in fact, she was more confused than she was before. Her heart was a constant state of turmoil, but she had determined herself that this time she would call off the pity party and save Sasuke, save Naruto. So maybe she was confused now, but she found herself hopeful as she entered the psychic's room that maybe she could get some answers and guidance.

Tenten had once done a fortune reading for her at Koyo Festival last fall. She had helped Sakura save one of her close friends, an elderly patient at the hospital, by giving insight into what the woman would later be diagnosed with as cause of death. Sakura had been able to research the disease and create a cure for it soon enough in advance to save the woman's life. At first Sakura had thought fortune telling was a hokey, meaningless joke, but after that, she never doubted the spiritual powers of the clairvoyant again.

Stepping into the room, her nerves instantly calmed with the smell of cinnamon and amber incense and the dimly lit rustic red furniture seemed to relax her muscles. Sitting down across the table from where the young woman sat, Sakura exhaled.

Arisa, previously having her eyes closed and legs crossed in a meditative stance, opened her eyes and leaned forward, staring into Sakura's green orbs. The pink haired female was a little uncomfortable with the girl staring straight at her and suddenly became afraid of what Arisa might forsee.

"Naruto." She finally said.

* * *

"Did Tsunade even say whom our team consists of?" Naruto asked.

"Nice expanse of vocabulary, but I believe it's 'who'. _Who _our team consists of." Sai corrected.

"Whatever!" Naruto snapped, causing Sai to look severely hurt.

"My book says that if your friend is wrong that you should compliment them, yet correct them. Though it doesn't seem to work…"

"gomen, gomen. Anyways," Naruto sighed, feeling a little bad about snapping. But there were more important issues to take care of!

"No, I don't believe she specified. Though I think she was talking to everyone in the room, which would mean all four of us." Yamato explained to the quartet.

"Well, this feels like deja-vu." Kakashi rubbed the back of his head lazily.

"This time we'll bring them back for sure!" Naruto thrust his fist into the air.

"Pretty words, but didn't you say that last time?" a snarky, foul-mouthed blonde approached them with two other males following. Naruto recognized them as Team 10.

"Ino…" Naruto winced his eyes, "Yes…but I have a good feeling about this."

"Is it true Sakura left with Sasuke?" Shikamaru stretched his arms lazily above his head.

"…Hai…" Naruto looked downtrodden.

"Aw, cheer up. Look on the bright side, with her pestering him to come back to Konoha, which I'm sure she is, It'll only be a matter of time before she gets on his nerves enough that he'll have no choice but to give in." Ino smiled, "She can be quite annoying sometimes."

"Eh? Are you sure you're not talking about yourself, Ino?" Shikamaru asked.

Ino whacked him in the gut for that one.

"Oi, if you need anyone to come with you, we're ready to help." Chouji offered gleefully.

Naruto smiled sincerely, "Thanks. But I think this is something our team is made for." _Our strangely demented broken up team. I guess sometimes teams come in pieces…_

"Except Tsunade ordered me to come with you." Shikamaru explained, "I just came out of her office with orders to find you and help your team. I was allowed to gather anyone I needed, and these two insisted on helping."

"Thank you…Ino" Kakashi nodded to the blonde, "Chouji…" he smiled at the pudgy brunette, "But I think it's better if we have less people."

"Shall we be off then?" Naruto stretched his arms above his head.

"Shouldn't we have an idea of where we're going first? They could be anywhere." Shikamaru raised an eyebrow

"Ano, ano! The more we speak here, the further away we're getting!" Naruto whined.

"Actually, you're both right. We should move out immediately. Fortunately, I have a suspicion of where they might be headed and we can at least get some clues." Kakashi announced in a rather relaxed tone as he held his little orange book in front of his face. Yamato was ready to ask him how on earth he could read and talk at the same time.

"Really?! Well then what are we waiting for?"

"Hinata."

"What? Why?"

"Her byakugan will be useful for tracking them. I would have called on Neji, but he's out on a different mission with Gai-Sensei and team 8." Shikamaru explained.

Just then a squeaky voiced female approached the main gate. "Um, sorry I'm late…" she apologized shyly.

"No problem Hinata-chan. Alright! Lets go!" Naruto turned to exit Konoha once again as he pumped his fist into the air.

* * *

Sakura was dazed. What she had been told…oh, that explains Sasuke's earlier behavior. Very much so. What would she do now?

"I know it's a lot to take in, Sakura-chan. Just relax. Everything will work out and as long as you take it easy, he'll be fine."

"How did Sasuke take it…when you told him?"

"Shock."

"The great Uchiha shocked?" Sakura snorted, "I can't believe it."

"Well he is only human, Haruno-san," She eyed Sakura warningly, "Not a god."

"Yeah, took me long enough to figure that one out."

Arisa grinned, "Although I'll admit he's got the body of one though."

"Hey. He's mine." She teased but suddenly frowned. The words he had whispered to her so viciously yet passionately resounded in her head. _"Mine…"_ Blushing, she looked away, "What does he think of me? Do I mean something to him or am I just a tool to revive his brother?"

Arisa took in a deep breath, "This is where I can only say so much, as much as I'd love to say more. It's what caused my village to chase me out of town...."

Outer Sakura nodded compassionately, "Of course." While inner Sakura cursed the fortune teller for not making an exception. "So you're saying I'll have to find out myself then?"

"It's for the best. You may be able to work something out that way too." A rapid knock came at the door and Arisa laughed knowingly, "Although these two should be interesting."

Sakura got up and thanked the young woman, opening the door for an impatient red-head. "Your turn." The Konoha kunoichi smiled falsely as she walked past her.

"Let me guess, she was trying to spy on my conversation too?" Sakura asked Suigetsu once the door had closed.

"You bet."

"Did she hear anything?"

"Not a word. I made sure she didn't." Suigetsu grinned as he began to tap his fingers against the floorboard.

Sakura smiled, "Thanks."

"No prob." Sui waved his hand above his head lazily as he sat against the wall.

She had gotten to know these people so well in only a short week—only Juugo seemed to remain a mystery to her, though Suigetsu had confirmed that he only stayed away from people for fear of lashing out at them in a blind rage. He refused to get close to anyone.

She walked past the little hallway out into the cramped entry way. Glancing out the window, she could see Sasuke sitting on the porch swing, his back arched and chin resting on his hands in deep thought. Quietly, she opened the front door as to not disturb him, though she couldn't help the squeal that emerged from rusty door hinges as she swung it open.

Closing it gently, she walked out on the porch and stood in front of the swing, "Sasuke-kun?" She asked. It was the first time since their endeavor in the cave that she had said his name in such a way.

He looked up at her as if searching for answers in her face. It was the first time she had seen him look so completely lost.

"Talk to me." She requested softly, sitting down next to him on the swing.

"How can I talk to you when I don't even have a single thought in my head?" He asked bitterly.

She began to grow a little angry, "You're not the one going through this, you know. I'm here too. I've always been here to be there for you. Yet every time you reject me and play the pitiful victim."

He turned and glared at her, "This is all your fault."

"Oh that's good!" she laughed angrily, "seeing as its YOU who kidnapped me in the first place!"

"If you weren't so damn indecisive, I wouldn't have had to have done what I did."

"What are you talking about?" She shrugged her shoulders and leaned in confusedly.

"The cave." He looked away.

"Oh, so you're saying you had sex with me to seal the deal, is that it?"

Sasuke was silent, obviously biting back an answer.

"Just say it! It doesn't matter, what's done is done. Just tell me so I can finally get over you!"

"I'm going inside." He stood up from the swing and walked over to the door.

"You're a coward, Uchiha." She spat at him as he went inside, causing the door to slam a little harder than it would have naturally.

"Damn women." He muttered as he walked to the hallway.

"Did Sakura find you?" Suigetsu asked. Sasuke glared at the water ninja. "Mmmkay, I'll take that as a yes…"

The pissy raven haired teen rapped on the fortune teller's door. "We need to get going."

Karin and Arisa soon emerged out of the room to face the wrathful Uchiha.

"Yes yes, let me just tell you, suigetsu" she turned to him as they walked through the entry way, "When the mountain crumbles, trust your instinct!" she turned to Juugo, "There's a woman in Konoha who can help you. But follow Uchiha-san for now, he'll need your help."

She bowed to them all after escorting them to the door. "Best of luck on your journeys!"

"Aren't you going to tell us where we are?" Suigetsu asked

"ah! Hai hai hai hai! You have just entered the land of Rice Fields. Travel Southwest you'll reach the land of Fire, travel due west and you'll eventually reach otogakure."

_Otogakure? That's strange. Sasuke should have known that we were close to Oto, so then why did he even bother coming here? Furthermore, why is he acting like he didn't know this?_

The group said their goodbyes and left the porch, Sakura in the rear. Arisa pulled her back for a moment and whispered in her ear, "Remember, be careful with him."

Sakura nodded then ran to catch up to her group. They didn't have to cross the mountainous terrain too far until they reached a cliff offering a beautiful view of the flat lands below. The only unfortunate part of it all was, _how are we going to get down? _The wall of the cliff afforded absolutely no place to step or leap from. It was as if someone had taken a knife and cut out a piece of the mountain.

Sasuke pointed left. "We'll have to retrace our steps a bit to get to that mountain over there. From then on, we should be able to make it down in about a day.

The group followed wordlessly, anxious to be on flat ground—especially Sakura.

* * *

"amegakure…" Naruto mused bitterly, "the ones that killed Ero-senin."

"From what we've gathered, it's Akatsuki's headquarters." Kakashi explained around a burning campfire. "Sasuke is most likely headed there."

"Hmm, something doesn't make sense though." Shikamaru interrupted, "Yamato-taichou, did the villagers report seeing any of the Akatsuki members carrying around a dead body?"

Yamato shook his head, "No. And with someone of KillerBee's reported size, it wouldn't go unnoticed. If they had seen it, they would have told us."

"Kakashi, do you remember the place that you and Nartuo found Gaara?" Shikamaru asked.

"Hm. I see what you're saying. Why would they go to Ame, when the biju extraction probably takes place elsewhere?" Kakashi mused.

"I don't get it…" Naruto scratched his head, "so do we know where he is?"

"Not a clue. Looks like Sasuke is already done with the body, so we have no idea where he would be headed next." Yamato explained

"We have one clue." Sai spoke up, "Whatever he's planning to do next, he needs Sakura-chan for."

"I was thinking the same thing." Shikamaru nodded, "What does Sakura have that Sasuke doesn't?"

"Well there's the obvious anatomical answer." Sai offered nonchalantly.

"baka!" Naruto blushed, hitting Sai upside the head, "Don't make me think those kinds of things!"

Hinata blushed, "um…well…Ss-Sakura's good w-with ch-chakra, rright?"

"She has excellent chakra control and chakra manipulation skills." Kakashi mused, and Yamato could have sworn he heard a bit of pride in his voice. "And her healing abilities rival the fifths."

"So he either needs her for her healing abilities, chakra control, or both." Shikamaru thought aloud.

"What would he need healing for?" Naruto asked.

The six of them were silent in thought until Kakashi spoke up suddenly, nearly scaring the wits out of the deeply concentrating Yamato sitting next to him.

"Uchiha Itachi."

"eh?" Naruto asked aloud.

"Remember what the elders told us?" Kakashi explained, "Someone must have told Sasuke that Itachi was a good guy."

"Eh? You mean Itachi the psychopathic murderer of the entire Uchiha clan?" Shikamaru asked.

"In short, he did it on orders from Konoha. None of us knew this until they recently revealed this to us. And they believe there is someone out there—someone thought to be dead—who has also revealed this to Sasuke." Kakashi explained. "My guess is that he learned his mistake in jumping to conclusions and taking his revenge before knowing all the facts."

"So you think Sasuke is going to find out for himself if this information is true before he takes revenge then?" Shikamaru followed rhetorically.

"There's only three people he can go to." Yamato added.

"well, four, if you count the third, but I doubt he would dare try to summon the third back to life." Kakashi mused

"Although he did learn from Orochimaru, and when the third fought the snake, Orochimaru brought back the first and the second." The young ANBU pointed out.

"Yes but…Sasuke and the third were a lot like Naruto and the third. He watched over those two boys as if they were his own sons. Sasuke may be tainted, but he does have respect for the ones he cherishes." Kakashi explained.

"Cheh, yeah right." Naruto muttered. "Me an' Sakura were closer to him than the third. In fact, Kakashi-sensei, you were like his dad."

"And if I were dead and had the information he needs, he wouldn't wake me from my peace to try and find out." Kakashi responded calmly, "Nor you or Sakura."

Naruto looked away and was silent. Part of him wanted to believe his old sensei, but there was another part of him that had lost all faith in their former comrade.

"So then three people he can go to." Shikamaru resumed, "The two elders and Itachi himself."

"But, he wouldn't revive Itachi, Kakashi sensei just said—" Naruto began

"Remember, Sasuke grew up hating his older brother. That, coupled with doubt that what Madara told him is even true…well, lets just say he'd have no qualms about disturbing Itachi's peace." Kakashi explained.

"Well since the elders are in Konoha, and we're out here, then our destination is to set out for wherever Itachi is buried." Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, "which will be difficult, because the only one who knows that is Sasuke himself."

"We almost found out when we met that guy, Tobi…" Kakshi's eyes widened suddenly, "that must have been him!"

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked quizzically

"Hinata-chan, Yamato-taichou, Naruto, Sai-kun, do you all remember when we fought the man with the mask; the one who managed to avoid our attacks?"

"H-hai." Hinata answered while the others nodded.

"Right before he left, I caught a glimpse of the one eye revealed. No doubt about it, it was the sharingan. And his moves… he didn't teleport, he vanished into thin air using time/space jutsu. There are only two people who have been able to master that: The fourth hokage and Uchiha Madara."

"…I don't get it." Naruto sat dumb-faced.

Kakshi sighed, "The man with the orange mask is Uchiha Madara, the one I was telling Tsunade about when we gave our report. He's apparently in cahoots with Akatsuki, which would lead us straight to Sasuke if we can find him."

"but…Kakashi-senpai…" Yamato began, "Chasing him is like chasing a ghost. He can be anywhere at anytime and we have no way of tracking him."

The fire crackled gloriously, breaking the silence between the thinking six.

"There is one place we can check." Kakashi began, "A hideout not too far from here. The Uchiha's used to use it, and I only stumbled upon it in one of my missions a long time ago.

"Why there?" Naruto asked.

"Where else do you think the brothers would fight? Uchiha's are proud people, proud of their lineage, and hold their name in the highest regard. Especially Sasuke. It would be like him to commence a fight at a place such as that. Also…" Kakashi mused, "I happened to be passing through that area, where it seemed like a lot of landscape had been burned. Knowing the Uchiha's are master fire users, It may be proof that they were there."

"Then we set out tomorrow for the hideout." Naruto decided determinedly.

* * *

RA: I was really hoping to get this done on the fourth of November ('cause hey, chapter four, uploaded on the fourth? Eh, eh?) Buuut it didn't work out. And I'm glad! I've got a kick ass scene for next chapter that will make you drop your chopsticks. Or rather, make Karin drop her chopsticks! And what about Naruto and his team? Will they find Sasuke? Or will they find an even bigger surprise? Next time in Resurrection!

Dun dun dun!


	6. Afraid

**AN:** I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has reviewed for my story, with a special shout-out to WildCherryLollipop, pisquenta and shkh4ever. You guys make me feel like I've got my own little fanclub –laughs-. And you're quite the clever one, Shkh4ever. You're right. But don't tell anyone!

On with the story!

* * *

**Chapter 5: Afraid**

"two rooms please." He handed a small bag of coins to the innkeeper who gave them two room keys and told them their numbers.

"Two rooms?" Suigetsu questioned

"One for us, one for the girls." He responded nonchalantly.

Sui raised an eyebrow. They had never roomed separately before. And keeping those two in the same room? _Is he fucking crazy?_ But he didn't make it a point to prod the raven haired teen any further. _Better not to test his patience._

Sakura and Karin had not been happy about being confined in a room together, though when faced with the option of sleeping outside or buying their own room, they decided that they could survive a night. Once everyone had set up, Sasuke sent them off to the tavern to get something to eat.

"Are you coming with us?" Suigetsu asked.

"I'll be along shortly. I have some business I need to attend to." Sasuke explained, handing him a small pouch of money. "Just in case you finish before I get there."

"Right. See you, then." Sui waved him off and the four went to dinner silently, save for the sound of their feet scuffing against the gravel pathway up to the tavern. When seated, they glanced at a menu full of savory looking food.

_Chouji would be in heaven_. Sakura chuckled internally, then groaned. _Great. I'm still thinking about them. _She glanced across the menu and upon seeing the ramen options, involuntarily thought of Naruto. _I wonder how he's doing…I wonder if he's worried about me…_ she let out an amused "hn." _Well that's not conceited or anything. _

"What's funny?" Suigetsu asked her.

"Huh?" she looked over at him "Oh, nothing. Just thinking."

"So Sakura, what did the fortune teller tell you?" Karin asked flat out.

"It's seriously been bugging you that long?" Suigetsu rolled his eyes

"What? No! I just happened to think of it! Why are ya so defense of her anyways?" she glared

"because she's not a bitch like you." He stated plainly.

Karin growled in rage, "Why you-!" she was cut off by the waitress who came to take their order.

"Would you all like to start with something to drink?"

Suigetsu ordered first, unsurprisingly requesting water, then Sakura, who decided she deserved to unwind.

"I'll have the Daiginjo-shu sake." She ordered sweetly, a little apprehensive about drinking alcohol in front of the others, especially Karin. Sakura knew that the drinking age in the land of rice was significantly lower than other countries. She had only ordered that specific drink because it had been Tsundae's favorite, but honestly had no idea what it would taste like.

Being that the tavern was mostly empty, their drinks were brought just minutes after ordering them. They all listed their meal orders and the waitress walked away oblivious that she was serving Akatsuki's pawns. Sakura lifted the sake cup to her lips nervously, not to be unnoticed by Karin.

"What's the matter, never drank before?" The red-head raised a daring eyebrow.

Sakura lowered the glass to speak, "As if. It just brought back memories, that's all." Sakrua half lied. Well, it did remind her of Tsunade.

"Yeah right. I bet you're a drinking virgin." Karin crossed her arms.

Sakura took one gulp of the sake and wanted to gag, but refrained from showing any emotion on her face.

"Yeah Karin, probably about as much of a drinking virgin as you are a virgin period." Suigetsu bit harhly.

Karin blushed brightly and adjusted her glasses, "I- well…I…That's not of your business!"

"Ah, so you admit to being a slut then." Suigetsu grinned happily.

She narrowed her eyes and even Sakura was a little taken aback, 'I'm not a ho, you bastard!"

"Really? I couldn't tell with those shorts you wear and all."

Karin was near red in the face. "Fine. I'm a virgin. You happy?"

Suigetsu grinned wildly, "Quite."

_So if she's a virgin, then that means she's never done anything with Sasuke, which means I'm probably the only one he's been with. _Sakura blushed at the lewd thought that suddenly formed in her mind, _Though I would have never guessed. _

The sake slowly began to taste better and better, and Sakura found herself becoming increasingly relaxed around these people who were supposedly her enemies. By the time their food had come, Sakura had already finished a glass of sake and ordered another.

Suigetsu suddenly waved his hand and the pink haired kunoichi followed his gaze. "Oi, over here." He beckoned.

Sasuke made his way over to the table and was about to sit down next to juugo when he spotted something on the table. His eyes widened as if spotting gold and he quickly picked up Sakura's sake glass, looking at her dumbstruck. "Are you out of your mind?!" He asked the girl, now obviously drunk.

"eh? Whas it to 'ya?" she slurred slightly.

He glared at her, "You, a medical ninja, should know better."

She stood up to confront him. "I'm tired of takin yer orders and ya bossin me aroun' like ya own me er somethan." She poked him in the chest wobbly.

"Yeah Sasuke, it's not going to hurt her or anything." Suigetsu defended, "Give her a headache tomorrow, at most."

Sasuke glared at him. He didn't like others getting involved in his matters. "stay out of this" he snapped.

Sakura glared at him, "y'know this is all yer fault." She stood up to him, staring him in the face.

"It was a two way street." He snapped back calmly.

"you didn have to kid-hic-nap me." She slurred, hiccupping over her words.

"Like I said, you didn't have to be so indecisive."

"I wasn. Y'know how I felt fer yah. Yah didn have ta do'at." She glared, not backing off any.

"You're drunk." Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Nawwww, REALY?" She laughed, backing off finally.

"You know what it's going to do to you."

"Me? It'll do nothan ta me." She grinned and giggled, "OOOOH, you mus be talking 'bout the BABY!"

Karin dropped her chopsticks and Suigetsu nearly choked on his water. Sasuke rubbed his forehead.

"WHAT?!" Karin nearly screamed.

"Yes, that's right. I'll shout it 'ta the world. I'm carryin' the child of a man who treats me like shit! Mos' girls get pregnant with the child of the man they're married ta, and loves them, but NOO! Not me! I got preg-hic-nant with the child of an ass who only cares about 'mself!" She announced to the group, completely inhibited and completely unashamed. Plus, the look on Karin's face was absolutely priceless.

Sasuke grabbed her by the arm and lead the drunken girl out of the tavern. "What were you THINKING?!" he yelled at her, partly in rage, partly in trying to get past her drunkenness, and partly to surpass the noise created by the rain falling against the aluminum patio outside the tavern.

"Hmm? I thou'd I'd ferget about everything and all…jus relax, y'know?" she slurred.

"Alcohol can kill the baby! Leave him mentally retarded! You may have just impaired our child for life!" Sasuke was losing it, and drunk Sakura was thoroughly amused.

"Well good. Then we won' have another Uchi-hic-ah runnin round and mmm-makin a mess of stuffs. He won go off an l-leave his friends or any…leave any…girl… broken ha-haa—ah damnit!" she cursed, unable to form her words anymore.

He narrowed his eyes, realizing there was no use trying to talk to her in this state. "Lets get you back to the hotel." He wrapped her limp arm around his shoulder and threw his arm around her shoulder, guiding her down the steps of the tavern and walking her across the road to the inn. Soaking wet, he entered, helping her to her room.

She groaned, groggily, feeling sleepy and quickly loosing consciousness. Unable to remove her wet clothes on her own, Sasuke took care of her, stripping her of the soaked clothes and dressing her in the night robe provided by the inn. The process was slightly awkward, though having seen her naked before, it wasn't anything he couldn't stand. And though he wouldn't admit, he did like to admire her slender figure.

Lying the girl in her bed, he narrowed his eyes, running his hand over her stomach. One word formed in his head:

_Mine…

* * *

  
_

That night, Naruto kept watch for the team, accompanied by Kakashi who volunteered to keep him company. The two made small talk, sometimes no talk at all. Kakashi held his orange book up in front of his face, reading the book in seemingly deep thought.

"ano…Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked quietly.

"Hm?" he responded nonchalantly.

"Do you think Jiraya really just wrote those book's 'cause he was a big pervert, or do you think he wrote them to have an alternate meaning?"

Kakashi shrugged, "I don't know. I never knew Jiraya that well. You'd have a better clue than me."

"He knew exactly which line, what page each word was on." Naruto sighed, "They meant a lot to him…and I'd read them…but I honestly get so bored." The blonde ninja explained.

"Naruto…" Kakashi began.

"Yeah?"

"You're 16, right?"

"Hai, 17 in a few weeks." The blonde replied, "why do you ask?"

"eh, no reason." Kakashi decided to drop the subject. What he really wanted to ask was, _where the hell are your hormones?_

"Sa, sa! Are you planning a surprise party for meeee?" The blonde lept over and squatted in front of Kakashi, who sat leaning against a tree trunk.

"Nope." The silver-haired jounin responded blankly, and Naruto knew he meant it.

"psh. You suck." Naruto crawled back over to his side of the tree trunk.

Silence filled the air again as only the hooting of an owl could be heard of in the distance.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked again.

"Hm?"

"Do you think Sakura-chan loves Sasuke-teme like she used to?"

Kakashi sighed, closing the book with the one hand he held it with. Placing the book by his side, he exhaled. "I don't know. My guess is that…no. And to begin with, she didn't love him like you say back when you all were in my team. Infatuation, maybe. But I know she is as hurt as you by his recent actions."

"Hmm…" Naruto groaned and frowned. He wasn't satisfied with the answer, it was just a guess.

"Naruto, do you love Sakura-chan?"

"Hai! Of course I do! I'd do anything for her, you know that!" He exclaimed a little loudly, causing the jounin to clamp his hand over the blonde's mouth.

"Shh, they're still sleeping." He let go of the blonde who made a cute apologetic face, "anyways. Now let me ask you this, do you love Sasuke?"

"Eh? No way!"

"But you would do anything for him, right?"

"…I guess."

"and when you said you loved Sakura, you said you'd do anything for her." Kakashi cornered him.

"I mean, I guess I love him as a brother…yeah! That's what I mean. He's precious to me, like Sakura-chan, but he's more of a family type. Sakura-chan is more to me than that though."

"So then, if you could only save one of them…" Kakashi began.

Suddenly Naruto understood. It may come down to the point where only one of them could be brought back, the other left behind. Not the type to think pessimistically though, Naruto curled his hand resting by his side into a fist, "I'll bring them both back, no matter what!"

"Good." The silver-haired jounin smiled characteristically. Nothing had changed.

* * *

"Way to go Sasuke!" Suigetsu sarcastically applauded the Konoha missing-nin.

The raven haired teen fired up his sharingan, grasped Suigetsu's shirt and pinned him against the wall within a fraction of a second. "Not. A. word." The Uchiha demanded as he stared into the silver-haired-man's eyes.

Suigetsu raised his hands in defense, "okay, okay! I won't say anymore!"

Satisfied but still pissed, Sasuke let him go, walking out of the inn room as Juugo entered.

"'ey Juugo…" Suigetsu caught the attention of the silent giant. Shutting the door, he sat on the windowsill, watching the rain fall heavily outside. "What do you make of all this."

Juugo slid off his shoes and slipped under the sheets. "I don't care one way or another. It's their business."

Suigetsu frowned. "You're no fun."

"Go find Karin if you want to gossip." Juugo yawned.

"Sheesh, I was just kidding. Man, everyone's so cranky. I think I'll go out for a walk." Suigetsu announced, hopping out of the window onto the covered walkway outside their room. He took a few steps out into the rain and instantaneously turned to a moving puddle of water.

In the other room, Karin was startled by a knock at the door as she watched the sleeping girl intently. She opened the door to see Sasuke standing there, but the flustered butterfly feeling inside her was gone. She stepped aside, letting him in.

"I'm going to stay in here tonight. Stay with the others if you wish." Sasuke announced quietly, dropping his things in their room.

Karin nodded. Sasuke rolled out his mat next to Sakura's and began to undress, though Karin did blush at this. "Ano, I think I'll room with the guys." She picked up her mat and quickly dragged it out the door, leaving the youngest Uchiha with a raised brow and an amused smirk.

When the door slid shut, all became quiet. Sasuke laid next to Sakura's sleeping form in a meditative trance. Closing his eyes, he fell asleep quickly, exhausted from the days events.

The eerie calm in room 15 was suddenly spread to room 16 as Karin quietly laid out her mat next to Suigetsu's, perpendicular to Juugo's. Sensing the origin of the cursed seal to be in a deep slumber, she took her time undressing out of her day clothes and into her night robe. She undressed with her back facing the door, just in case Suigetsu might come in through it without knocking. Thus, when a puddle of water crept up on the windowsill and took the shape of the man, it was a miracle that Karin's scream didn't wake her sleeping teammates.

"Privacy please!" Karin blushed, quickly fastening the terry night robe as Suigetsu looked away in embarrassment.

"Gomen! Gomen! I didn't know you were staying in here!" he stated, still looking away.

"I'm dressed NOW, you idiot." Karin rolled her eyes.

Still blushing, Sui walked past her silently, stepping behind a changing shade and into his terry robe as well. "Why didn't you just change over here?" he asked.

"I didn't expect you to be coming through the window, and since juugo was asleep, it was just more convenient." She explained angrily, though kept her voice at a whispers level.

"Why are you staying in here?"

"Sasuke's with his girlfriend." Karin explained bitterly, and Suigetsu could sense her anger.

Stepping out from behind the shade, he sat down on his mat and pulled the blanket over himself. "Y'know,why did you even bother to begin with?"

Karin stepped into her mat, "What do you mean?"

Sui rolled on his side to face her, "Well he's…him. For the longest time I thought he was asexual or freakin dickless in general." He shrugged as best he could with his head propped up in his hand, "What made you think he'd like you?"

Karin narrowed her eyes, "You're really insensitive, you know that?" She rolled over and faced away from him, "Just leave me alone."

"Alright, that came out wrong. What I'm saying is that Sasuke would only like someone that he had some deep connection with, and being that Sakrua-chan is his old teammate, makes her about the only person he would ever go after. I'm not saying you're less than her, I'm just saying that Sasuke's the kind of guy that really doesn't even pay attention to girls."

Karin rolled back over to face him, "Are you trying to comfort me?" she raised an eyebrow.

Suigetsu looked surprised, "Pft, no…" he shook his head. "Whatever. Goodnight." He snapped quickly then rolled on his side, away from her.

"Yeah, whatever you say, baka." She rolled both her eyes and her body in such that their backs were facing each other.

"bitch."

"Asshole."

"Yeah yeah, love ya too."

Karin let out an amused snort and finally, there was complete quiet in room 16.

* * *

_"Welcome home, Sasuke-kun!" A black haired woman in her mid thirties beamed as she outstretched her arms. Behind her, a man stood tall and proud, arms crossed in front of him with a dignified smile on his face._

_"Well done, Son. That's my boy. You've done your family and this clan proud." He announced as Sasuke hugged the woman. Next to the man with the pronounced jaw stood a younger man a few years older than himself._

_"Foolish Otouto. So you didn't get yourself killed." The young man smiled, reaching out his arms for a fraternal hug, "Welcome back, little brother."_

_Sasuke stepped back, looking at his family, looking at his family who was looking at __him, with pride and happiness. They stood there, real as day, tangible and full of life. He looked down. His body was clad in the outfit of an ANBU officer, the blade of kurosagi strapped to his back. He stood in his home, he ate at his dinner table, he was with is family again._

_But as he ate his mother's homade food, things became strange. Sasuke noticed that outside the window, there was nothing but pure blackness. Shadows began to creep into the house like worms, and when he looked closer, they were the shape of snakes, creeping up onto his family members. Sasuke tried to stop them, but his family ignored him, as if they were oblivious to everything. One shadow snake wrapped itself around his mother, and the instant it touched her, her body transformed into a large anaconda. The same thing happened with Itachi and his father._

_Sasuke slayed the three large snakes with his sword, but the shadow snakes still followed him. Running out of his house, he ran into Naruto, who patted him on the back. "Congrats teme! Now we can go on missions together!"_

_"Naruto, the snakes!"_

_But the blonde dobe ignored him. A mass of shadow snakes wrapped themselves around Naruto's feet, and the same thing happened to him as the rest of family. The yellow anaconda lunged after Sasuke, but he dodged and used the opportunity to slice off the head of the over-sized snake._

_He ran down the street and spotted Sakura running toward him._

_"Sasuke-kun! There you are, I've been looking all over for you!" she beamed, but he pushed her away._

_"GET BACK IN YOUR HOUSE!" he yelled, but she looked at him confused._

_"Sasuke kun…" she looked at him hurt. The shadow snakes were starting to gain on him. Sakura clung herself onto him and he carried her, leaping up onto a roof._

_Setting her down, he demanded, "Stay here! Don't follow me!" He leapt down from the building and allowed the shadow snakes to continue to follow him. Sakura didn't obey him though. She followed, now carrying a bundle of cloth in her arms._

_"Sasuke-kun! Don't leave me!" she cried, the shadow snakes now mere inches from her. Suddenly, one touched her._

_"NOOO!" He yelled, but it was too late._

The air was cold in the hotel room, yet Sasuke sat up with a burning sweat running down his forehead. He looked over at Sakura, who seemed to be having a bad dream of her own. Wiping the sweat off his forehead, he noticed his robe had come off during the night, but he was too hot to put it back on. He dabbed his face on the terry cloth, then tossed it aside as he tried to go back to sleep.

"N…no…Naru…to…don 't!" Sakura mumbled, turning on her side suddenly. Sasuke sat up on his mat and gently stroked her cheek, trying to calm her down. The motion made her thrash all the more, though.

"Sa—sasss…" she began, throwing a fist blindly in the air. Sasuke raised his eyes, surprised. "Stop…" she murmured, then suddenly became still. Breathing returning to normal, Sakura's blanket had fallen off of her as she clutched to her pillow. Sasuke gently placed the blanket back over her, then sighed, laying on top of his blanket.

He was tired. He'd need his sleep. No sense in worrying over a child's nightmare. Just go to sleep.

* * *

**RA:** I have a question for you all. So, normally I write yaoi. I haven't written a Het piece in years, and this one is suddenly taking over my mind. However, I will shamelessly admit that I'm a sasu/naru and even bigger sasu/ita fan. What do you think? Should we muddy up the water some more, or leave this stagnant puddle of drama as it is? Thank you all for reading and please review and let me know what you think!


	7. Team Seven

AN: Happy early christmahaunakwanzaka to everyone! Here's my little gift, a nice 11-pager chock full of teasers and info for your brain to suck on during this busy holiday season! Hehe, Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 6: Team Seven  
**

x-x-x

As the last one to wake up, Sakura slid the rice paper door of her room open and muddled her way towards the bathroom. When she noticed Sasuke walking towards her, she held up her hand to him, not even bothering to look at him as she clutched her head with the other hand.

"Not a word." She said quietly, as to not increase her migraine anymore than necessary.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, slightly sadistically amused. He'd never seen Sakura hung-over before and never imagined he would. He didn't stop to think he was the reason why he she had gotten drunk last night. The angsty raven-haired teen walked into his room and paused as he looked outside.

The rest of the team was returning from breakfast and Sasuke raised his eyebrows again at the way Suigetsu and Karin were talking like friends. He watched as their facial expressions changed, signaling that they were still bickering, yet it seemed different. When Suigetsu would insult Karin, she'd become flustered, yet he'd laugh at her reaction and her anger wouldn't last long. This would go back and forth, and he even saw Karin laugh a few times herself.

Demons were definitely building snowmen in hell somewhere. Sasuke was beginning to wonder if he was stuck in another dream or dimension.

He rolled up his mat then went back out to the hallway to knock on the bathroom door, "Hurry up, we're leaving soon."

He winced as he heard the pink haired girl retch into the toilet. Yep. She definitely was a drinking virgin.

* * *

She couldn't stop thinking about her dream last night. She watched so vividly as Naruto ran after Sasuke through the temple ruins, far ahead of them.

"Naruto, don't!" she cried, fearing for his safety in being alone with the Uchiha. He was perfectly capable on his own, having perfected the Rasenshuriken should the situation call for it, but she still predicted nothing good to come of it.

The two had run into a dead end hall, the doors on each side either locked or crumbled in. Suddenly, Naruto was the one being cornered, with the blade of kurosagi pointed at his neck.

"The kyuubi is mine." Sasuke lifted his hand, enveloped in a hazy blue light. It seemed to happen in slow motion, yet it happened so fast that Naruto had no way to avoid it; Sasuke's hand pierced through his chest, causing the blonde to only gasp for air.

Curling his hand into a fist, Sasuke pulled out a translucent, yet rusty orange looking vein out of the blonde, who, at this point looked purely out of it. Dropping the kurosagi and letting the vein hang loose from the boy, the raven haired teen quickly formed a few hand signs, then sliced his own exposed chest open. Sasuke pulled enough of the kyuubi spirit out of Naruto in order to slide just an inch of it inside his own skin. Manipulating his own hands into three more signs, he placed both palms flat on the vein, causing the kyuubi rush out of the blonde and into the Uchiha.

Naruto fell limp to the ground.

Having finally caught up with the two, Sakura rounded the corner to see she was too late. Sasuke had made quick work of sewing up his own skin, hand still covered both their blood.

"How could you?"

"Don't worry, he's not quite dead." Sasuke pointed to his head. "He won't shut up."

Sakura clenched her teeth, "You BASTARD!" she screamed, running after him with a chakra-powered fist.

"Ah, if you kill me, you kill your precious Naruto as well." Sasuke grinned and Sakura immediately stopped her hand still at her side.

She spotted the fallen body on the ground behind him, and instantly ran past the Uchiha to pick up Naruto's corpse. Not uttering a word, she held it to her chest and began to cry torrents of tears for her best friend. Sasuke left them there and simply began to walk away.

And then she woke up. It was all so vivid, so clear. _Would Sasuke really do that? _ She thought of how Itachi had killed everyone in his own clan, _The apple doesn't fall far from the tree… _She followed him through the tall, twisting trees of the Land of Fire, watching his back from afar. _And this one is definitely one of that tree._

"Konoha Shinobi about two miles in the distance." Karin announced to the group, but Sasuke didn't stop.

* * *

The group remained still as Hinata jumped onto the sturdy branch to do a survey of the land around. They were coming close to the Uchiha hideout, and with knowledge of the Chakra-sensor type on Sasuke's team, Hinata was the perfect way to make sure they weren't revealed.

Closing her eyes, she formed the seal required to activate her Byakugan, then opened her pupil-less eyes to see the world around her in a vastly different way. She looked left, then right, then behind, and finally straight ahead; what she saw nearly threw her off her feet.

"Th-They're coming!" she announced excitedly.

"Which direction?" Shikamaru asked as Naruto's jaw fell slack.

"Straight ahead. There's five of them." She focused further, trying to look for distinguishing characteristics, "Sakura-chan's with them!"

A large grin spread across the kyuubi-container. Yamato, noting this, warned him, "Don't get too happy yet. We still have yet to even meet them. You may end up having to fight Sasuke as well."

Naruto shaped his face into a frown that almost looked like a cute pout, yet was deep enough to look serious, " I know. But I'm just happy to see her again."

The group didn't need to be told twice to conceal their chakra as they placed themselves into strategic and effective hiding positions. Hinata kept watch to make sure their target group kept on course.

Shikamaru had quickly gone over the plan which included using Yamato as a frontal diversion, Shikamaru himself to suspend, Kakashi to attack, and Naruto and Sai as a back up if Shikamaru and Kakashi failed. Hinata would also serve to keep the other team members busy. Secretly Naruto wondered if it would be better for her to stay out of the fight completely.

The trees rustling indicated that bodies were moving quickly up through the forest.

"_Mokuton Moku Jouheki"_ The wood user muttered, and abruptly the traveling Five were brought to a halt as a wooden wall enclosed all around them. Yet, unlike the normal cocoon, it was open at the top creating a circle shape enclosure, quite similar to the chunin exam battle arena.

The sun, angled at just the right degree, offered Shikamaru a perfect amount of shadow to work with, "Kagemane No jutsu." The Nara whispered as the team tried to leap out of the well-shaped enclosure, effectively catching them by their ankles and pulling them back to the ground.

Suigetsu, however, bypassed this, morphing into water and slipping out of the shadow's grasp. Yet, being the only one with this ability, and no way to cut the shadow, he was slightly at a loss.

Just then, Kakashi jumped down into the circle.

"Who are you?" The silver haired water-ninja asked as he reformed into his human shape.

"Kakashi-sensei…" Sakura whispered out, then suddenly looked away, ashamed to look at the comrade she abandoned.

Kakashi looked over at her, then Sasuke.

"What are you planning, Sasuke?" He asked the teen blatantly.

The last Uchiha smirked, though it was an ironic position to be smiling about, as he was the one lying on the dirt, bound by a shadow. "hn. I don't feel the need to tell you."

A chidori formed around the silver haired jounin's hand, yet the sound of metal distracted him.

"Hey, your fight's with me. You never answered my question either." Suigetsu picked up his sword, which piqued the child of the White Fang immensely.

"The sword of Momochi Zabuza, hm? And would you have anything to do with this, Sasuke?"

"Perhaps."

Afar, Shikamaru wished they would cut the chit-chat. His chakra would only last about four more minutes.

The chidori on Kakashi's hand grew larger. "I don't think you know what you've done by stealing that." He charged after him with the blue sparkling weapon in his arms, yet Suigetsu swung at him, effectively chopping him in half.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakrura screamed, yet wondered why she didn't recognize it sooner—Kakashi's body suddenly turned into a split log, with the real copy-ninja behind Suigetsu, hand aiming for the nymph's body.

Suigetsu realized this a tad too late, and let out a wail as his body was electrocuted; being a water type and vulnerable to lightning, he fell to the ground, exhausted from that one blow. "Suigetsu you idiot!" Karin wailed, and Sakura wasn't sure if she heard sadness in the girl's voice.

Kakashi drew another Chidori when Sasuke called out, "Wait, Kakashi…"

"Hm, something the matter?"

"…if you let them go, Sakura and I will go back with you to Konohagakure."

"What?!" a unison of voices echoed as both Karin and Sakura nearly suffered a stroke from his last statement.

"Hm, I don't know. You're not in the position to be making propositions like that. I can easily wipe them out and force you back with us, and I'd be in a better position."

Sasuke smirked, "Kakashi…you should know. If I wanted to be out of this bind I could be before you even can blink."

"You underestimate Shikamaru's abilities. You're not the only one who's been improving."

At that point, an orange blur fell from the sky as Naruto jumped in to the join the group. Shikamaru's shadow bind released Sakura from its grip. Reaching out a hand, he courteously attempted to help her up, but she refused to look at him or take his hand as she stood up.

"I'm sorry…Naruto." She looked at the ground, away from Naruto, away from Kakashi, and away from Sasuke.

"Sakura-chan…I forgive you." He smiled, "I know how bad you feel. Don't worry about it." Suddenly she felt arms wrap underneath her legs and she was lifted bridal style into the air as Naruto leapt away with her, out of the open dome.

Sasuke growled internally, seeing the blonde dobe carry away _his_ possession.

"At this point, I don't see any reason to keep these criminals alive." Kakashi announced as he noticed a large man starting to go stage-two cursed seal within the Kage Mane.

"Juugo! Stop." Sasuke glared at the monstrous looking man with his Sharingan, effectively keeping the man from completely losing it.

"Sasuke, why aren't you breaking free?" Karin shrieked.

"Yes Sasuke, I'd like to know that as well." Kakashi asked.

"I have no reason to tell you." Sasuke stated once again and smirked as he noticed Shikamaru's kage man beginning to wane. He could move his upper body enough, and with a bit of force, could easily break out of it. Assuming the same for the others, he looked at them and activated his newest Sharingan.

Suddenly, both team eagle members broke free. Karin quickly picked up Suigetsu and leapt out of the area, effectively avoiding the snake-shaped ink blobs that ran after her. Within seconds she vanished into the trees. Juugo, however, remained, and simply stood there.

Finally Sasuke stood up, releasing himself of the shadow jutsu as if brushing off dust on his sleeve. "It's been a while, Kakashi-_sensei._"

Kakashi frowned. Why was Sasuke being so smug? Of course he was always like that as a kid, but now, of all times, it didn't seem appropriate. "Indeed it has. So what brings you to this neck of the woods?" he asked, playing along with Sasuke's verbal banter.

"Well I would like to tell everyone, but I would appreciate it if I could speak face to face." Sasuke explained.

Yamato heard this, and instantly the wooden barriers around them receded to the ground as they were joined by a now-visible Shikamaru, Sai and Hinata.

"And why didn't your friend there leave?" Shikamaru asked.

"Juugo is not a bad person." Sakura finally spoke up, "He was born naturally with the effects of the curse-seal, and it wells up within him without his consent. Like the Kyuubi, but with absolutely no control over it." She explained. "He has no reason to run, and would be of great value for Tsunade-sama to research and possibly cure."

"So, you two are going back to Konoha then, for sure?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "because something doesn't seem right. Why were you traveling with the others?"

"I hadn't told them the plan yet. In fact, Sakura wasn't even aware of this." Sasuke finally explained.

"Teme…you're not staying, are you?" Naruto doubted the teen despite his answer.

"No. I am. I only said that so my team members wouldn't think I was leaving them. I'm coming back to Konoha for good now." Sasuke announced.

Sakura's eyes widened, along with the rest of the group. Yet she didn't realize that everyone thought this was attributed to her.

Naruto's eyes softened and his guard dropped. "And I had hoped to be the one to bring you back…" he outstretched his arms and launched a fraternal hug onto his old comrade.

And typical of the usually stoic Uchiha, he tried to push him off, squawking at him for invading his personal space.

Naruto rubbed his neck sheepishly, "Sorry, I'm just so glad to have my best friend back."

For the first time in a long time, Sasuke let out a seemingly genuine smile. "Dobe, I never left."

Team 7 was back together again.

* * *

They walked into town with only a day of traveling behind them. Kotetsu, having been drinking a large sip of tea, nearly choked when he saw the infamous Sasuke Uchiha walking amongst the resident leaf shinobi who had gone out to capture him.

And capture him they did.

Or so it seemed that way. Izumo could hardly believe his eyes either. He stared at the group, reaching over blindly as he attempted to get the other's attention. "Do you see that?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

As Kotetsu finally was able to clear his throat, he nodded, "Hokage-sama is not going to believe this. And Sakura-sama is with them as well." Kotetsu had acquired a deep respect for the pink-haired prodigy after he learned of all the work she went through during Tsunade's training. Knowing that she took orders from the tempered old lady day in and day out while being one of the best medical ninjas the hospital had to offer, it seemed to Kotetsu that using the "chan" suffix didn't seem appropriate.

Making their way through the town, people stopped to see what was happening. A large group of shinobi including the Nine Tailed Fox container, Tsunade's apprentice, the legendary Copy Ninja, the pale ex-ROOT member, the first chunin of the rookie nine, the beautiful byakugan user, the only wood chakra manipulator, and most of all, the last Uchiha stood out in the town streets like a sore thumb. They were surrounded by a nearly tangible aura of whispers, yet they moved on.

The door to Tsunade's main room looked more ominous than Sakura could ever remember, yet she knew it was something that she had to face, and she supposed it would be best to just get it over with now. Shikamaru lead the way as the captain, pushing the doors open and the pink haired female swallowed with an barely audible gulp. The Japanese symbols for "gamble" on the back of Tsunade's cloak were visible with her pale blonde hair cascading over the green material. She knew.

"Hokage-sama, we have returned." Shikamaru announced with the rest of the group behind her.

Tsunade remained in her position, looking out the large picture windows of the Hokage's office, down onto the streets of Konoha. "Come in, Sakura, Sasuke. The rest of you may leave. I will call for you later to go over the details of the mission. Dismissed!"

"Ano, Tsunade-baa-chan, shouldn't I stay?" Naruto asked.

"No, Naruto. I need to speak with these two _alone._" She said, finally turning around to cast a dark gaze on the two young shinobi.

Knowing not to argue, he nodded silently, leaving the two alone to inevitably face the wrath of the last Sanin.

The large wooden doors slammed shut as threateningly as they opened, leaving Sakura's arms in Goosebumps. Her body froze and stomach dropped—she knew she was in deep trouble and could be sentenced to death for her acts.

Tsunade didn't sit down at her desk. Instead, the young looking old woman walked around to stand right in front of the two. While Sasuke looked at her maturely, Sakura looked down, hands folded behind her back.

"To be quite honest with you two, I'm at a loss for words." Tsunade began quietly. "I can have you both executed for leaving the village…" she looked at Sasuke, "and for abandoning your mission." She glanced at Sakura.

"if I may speak, Hokage-sama," Sasuke began, with much more politeness and respect in his voice than Sakura had ever heard, "I kidnapped Sakura. She did not leave willingly, and I threatened her life if she tried to escape."

Sakura looked up at him a little surprised. While this was all true…she was just as guilty for _wanting_ to stay with him.

"Please, if you're going to exact any punishment, place it on me, not Sakura. She is innocent in this affair." He was standing up for her.

_What on earth is he thinking? This is not the Sasuke I knew yesterday, nor two years ago, or even four years ago. I'm so lost…_ Sakura thought to herself as she looked at the eyes of her master.

"Is this true, Sakura-chan?" she asked the pink haired female.

Sakura felt as if she should take the blame, but if Sasuke was going so far as to portray her as innocent, it most likely meant he had a plan and she should go along with it.

"H-hai, Tsunade-sama. It's true."

Tsunade wasn't going to be swayed so easily, "I am disappointed with you, Sakura-chan. One would think through all that training I had you go through that you would have been able to escape from such a situation, if you wanted to. So I'm only left to wonder if you really did want to escape or if you even tried."

"I allowed myself to remain captured in order to find more about Akatsuki and their plans regarding Sasuke and his team. I had planned to escape once I had gathered enough information and the time was right. I wasn't expecting Sasuke to give up and return to Konoha." She looked up at the raven haired teen.

Tsunade turned to the last Uchiha, satisfied with Sakura's answer, "And just why did you come back?"

Sasuke closed his eyes, "I have finished my revenge. Being with Sakura made me want to come back and leave that life. I wish to return as a shinobi of the hidden leaf, if you would so permit, Hokage-sama."

Well this was news to her. Sakura remained calm, not betraying the fact that she was just as surprised to hear this as Tsunade. She knew, or at least thought she knew, that Sasuke was lying.

Or perhaps she had just become so jaded that she had come to expect things to never be the same again. Perhaps she had become so cynical in that one week with him that every one of his words had lost its value. Sasuke wasn't back. He would never come back to Konoha willingly, and her and Naruto should have known it best. But the blonde haired boy…oh how naive he still was--still just a child holding onto childish dreams of friendship and bonds. While his optimism was often his charm, it obviously was his downfall as well.

Tsunade closed her eyes and sighed, visibly relaxing. "If you are coming back, why did you kidnap Sakura in the first place?"

Sakura looked over at him, wondering how he'd get out of this one. What cunning lie would he come up with this time to fool them all? She wanted to scream out to Tsunade that it was all a lie, but she couldn't be sure.

"I needed Sakura's ability to heal and her chakra control skills in order to bring my brother back to life."

_Wait. He's not lying…he's telling the truth. Why? _

"Why would you do that, after you work so hard to kill him?" Tsunade asked.

"I was told by a certain man that my brother, Itachi, killed the entire clan on orders from the third hokage, and not out of spite. I wanted to make sure that this was true, so I decided to find someone who could help me revive him using a technique I learned from Orochimaru."

Tsunade frowned, "Don't even think about using that jutsu. You have to sacrifice a life for it, and what would have you done if the person was lying and you had to fight Itachi all over again? You would have put both your lives in danger." She tried to justify. But her voice didn't betray that she was somewhat shocked to find that the elders weren't lying. There was one more person out there who knew the truth about Itachi, and it was most likely Uchiha Madara. She didn't want to ask, however, as to not rouse suspicion that this story about Itachi were true; instead, she'd have Ibiki or Inoichi find out for her.

"I know." He nodded, "And there is one more reason why I came back…"

"Yes?"

Sasuke looked over at Sakura, who immediately looked away, "…I…I'm pregnant."

Tsunade raised her eyebrows as her eyes widened, "In only a week? How would you know?"

"We met a fortune teller in the land of Rice who told us. Also, I should have gotten my period by now, but I haven't." she explained quietly.

"A fortune teller?" Tsunade nearly laughed, "They don't know anything. And you probably missed it because you're stressed. Though if you insist, I will do a test." She looked at Sasuke, "Though your concern for her care and the child's care, if it exists, does precede you. I am going to need you to go through a mental examination to know if you are telling the truth, but I am going to allow you to stay in the village for now. Though I'm sure you can understand that you will be staying in the prison under ANBU surveillance until then."

Sakura looked up at her, "And me?"

"You will be required to undergo an examination as well, though you are free to go." She sighed and let out a louder voice, "Naruto, you may come in now."

The door creaked open as the orange-jumpsuit ninja crept into the room sheepishly, followed by Kakashi.

"You as well, Kakashi-sensei?" Tsunade asked.

"Someone had to make sure he didn't hear anything." The silver haired jounin ruffled the frustrated blonde's hair, tucking his orange book in his back pocket.

"Heh" the old woman half chuckled, then seemed to think of something. "Wait here…" she ran behind her desk and began to rummage through some files lying messily in her desk. Pulling out the folder for Team seven, she flipped to the front of the folder to find a picture paper-clipped to their very first mission reports. A picture had been taken of them, standing in a line, starting left to right with Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, almost four years ago. Looking up, the group happened to be standing in the same position, and the woman smiled. "I think you might want to see this." She held out the picture for Kakashi to see.

The jounin looked at the picture blank faced. There was so much emotion in seeing his students having grown up so much, but perhaps even more emotion in having them all back together again. He was a grown man, not one of sappy emotions, but his one eye suddenly began to water at the scene. Deciding to not let it progress any further, he passed the picture onto Naruto, who looked at the picture shocked.

"Wow…I forgot about this picture…" he blinked a few times, mouth hanging open slightly. Sasuke leaned over to see, as well as Sakura. He showed the picture to the two of them.

Sasuke smirked quickly, then handed the picture over to the curious girl on his left. Sakura took the picture from him, smiling as she tried to hold back the tears. To have Sasuke back was just so surreal, and to see how they had all grown up and the paths their lives had taken since then was overwhelming. She handed the picture back to Tsunade and thanked her.

But another thought arose in her head. What about Yamato and Sai? The two had become very special to her, especially Sai. She couldn't imagine what must have gone through the inky-black-haired boy's head when Sasuke announced that he was coming back to Konoha. He knew that he was meant to be a replacement team member in Sasuke's absence, and now that he was back, Sai would no longer be needed.

But despite it all, Sakura just had this nagging feeling that this was all temporary. If he could fool Orochimaru, there's no telling how many more people he could deceive.

Whatever the situation, she didn't want to leave the room at that moment. There was no more reason to move on; moving on would only bring a change, and Sasuke would probably leave them again. This was all a vacation from reality, and she wished she could stay here forever, back together with her old teammates, standing with the man she loved, her best friend, and her beloved sensei.

But time moved. Kakashi escorted a captive Sasuke to the prison where he stayed the night. She was showered with questions from Ino, Naruto, and her parents as she came home that night. Yet, with a wave of her hand, she refused to speak. Exhausted from the day, the week, and just plain everything, she wanted nothing more than to crawl into her bed and sleep away the day. Tomorrow was when she would be interrogated and would have her pregnancy test. Tomorrow was another day. Tomorrow would come soon enough.

Tonight, she would sleep.

* * *

RA: I'd like to say that as unbelievable as it sounds, I actually DID have the dream that Sakura had, and it was my inspiration. Well, the beginning at least. Sasuke took the kyuubi, and then Naruto was trapped in his head, and then Naruto started getting bored, so he was sending notes out to people, and because I love yaoi so much, Sasuke was like "I know you've been seeing other people; I found your notes in the toilet!" LAWL. Okay, so I ended it a little bit more sensibly XD. Because we all know Sasuke has a toilet in his head. That's where his heart went!

Yeah, anyways, you know the drill. Go do it :D.


	8. Regret

_Her hair was pressed against her face, her eyes were red with anger  
Enraged by things unsaid and empty beds and bad behavior_

-Maroon 5 "Goodnight Goodnight"

* * *

**Chapter 7: Regret**

**x-x-x  
**

Years ago she wanted to someday have a family of her own. She would become an academy teacher and would end up marrying the man of her dreams, Uchiha Sasuke. She dreamed that the curve-less, lanky sakura blossom would flower into a beautiful young woman. She dreamed of having a son and a daughter who would possess their father's talents and mother's brain. Sasuke, of course, would head the police force, like his father, and soon the clan would be revived once again.

Though time and time again, she wondered if any of her children would receive the recessive pink hair that would pop up along the Haruno family line. She wasn't quite sure she wanted a son with rosy locks…her grandmother's sister's son was born with pink hair and ended up dying it on a bi-weekly basis before deciding to just shave it off. But in her dreamy fantasy, it was a minor glitch that could easily be over come.

Today, she looked at those dreams and laughed. For a medical ninja who faced death on a daily basis, a steady-home life was impossible. She had made her way as Tsunade's apprentice, so academy teacher was out of the question. And _marrying _the cold bastard _Sasuke_ was a pathetic hopeless dream. She really was just a stupid girl in her younger years.

And now, she didn't even want a child. In fact, she wished more than anything that this pregnancy test would yield negative results, and should it come back positive, she would be lying if she said she hadn't thought about abortion. Without realizing it, she had gone over various plans into making Sasuke think that the fortune teller was mistaken and just getting the procedure done behind his back, though there was a part of her sickened with the thought of killing an unborn child.

17 year old Haruno Sakura and 13 year old Haruno Sakura were two vastly different people. And vaguely, she wondered if she was partially at fault for this. Was it time? Was it experience? Was it the choices she made in life? The deaths, the hardships, the pain she felt through these years that suddenly turned her life in a completely different direction? Or was it him…?

As she laid on the examination table with Tsunade's glowing hands roaming over her stomach, she exhaled deeply. This is not the life she had planned at all. After an in-depth and terrifying interrogation by none other than Morino Ibiki, the one who first granted her access into her life as a shinobi, she had become tense and shaken. Breathing was now a manual process.

Tsunade scrunched her brows together as she ran her palms and different types of chakra over the young girl's stomach. _Her body is undeniably changing in order to prepare for a child…I just can't believe it…_

"Sakura…" she began, causing the pink haired girl to lift her head and look up at the Sanin, "while it seems that you might be pregnant with this test, I'm going to have you do a blood test as well. I have a feeling your nerves may have something to do with this. If you're stressing too much, your mind will trick your body into showing signs of being pregnant. A blood test is the only way around it."

The pink haired girl nodded. Great. Needles. Just what she needed to add onto her massive pile of stress. Oh well, perhaps it might serve as a bit of calming acupuncture. That is, until the test came back positive; she had no doubt it would.

Tsunade left the room and another nurse came in to take care of the young kunoichi. The thin metal slipped under her skin as the woman extracted a syringe-full of blood. She had felt pain before, and though a minor cut to the skin was nothing into comparison to some of her previous wounds, she still couldn't help but hate needles. Watching her empty the blood into a small test-tube, Sakura felt a little comforted by knowing at least she could stand the sight of blood, unlike a certain blonde haired "legendary" Sanin. The nurse left after screwing the lid on the test tube, leaving Sakura to meditate in the warm sun filling the room through the window.

She waited anxiously for the nurse to inject the blood with the reactant formula; if she was indeed pregnant, the mixture would turn blue. If not, it would stay the normal dark red color of her lifeline. Sakura sighed as it seemed to take the woman forever; normally she would have had the test done in three minutes, but she was the patient here and she was the one subjected to the competence, or lack thereof, of the hospital staff.

By fifteen minutes, Tsunade came back with a clenched fist. Within it, Sakura knew she was holding the small test tube and the results that could either take a load off her shoulders or add a whole lot more. Literally. Wordlessly, the woman opened her palm up to Sakura.

The blood had turned blue.

Sakura visibly blanched. As all color drained from her face, she looked up at Tsunade with a shocked, helpless expression that seemed to plea for her to take it all away and make it all better. Though this was a mother's job, Sakura was never very close to her mother and only saw her about once a month now. In truth, with all the days of training and her service to Tsunade, the sanin woman had become more of a mother to Sakura than the one who brought her into the world.

She wondered if the same would be true for her son.

"Start thinking of names." Tsunade finally spoke.

"I already have one…" Sakura clenched the edge of her skirt, pulling on as she wrestled with inner turmoil. "If it's a boy… I'm naming it Naruto."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow, "Wait, so this is Naruto's child?"

Sakura visibly blushed brightly, "No! I mean…it's Sasuke's…but…I want my child to be strong and optimistic like Naruto. I don't want him to turn out like his father."

Tsunade sighed as she sat down next to the girl on the examination table. "Why did you have sex with Sasuke if you're really in love with Naruto?"

Sakura shook her head, "I'm not in love with him, he just means a lot to me…" she looked up at the hokage, daring to enter a realm of sadness in order to relate, "like you and Jiraya-sama."

Tsunade looked down and smiled bitterly, "Well, I wouldn't say that's the best example"

Sakura's eyes widened as she knew what the woman was going to say, "You mean you really did love him?"

The woman chuckled, "I told myself time and time again that he was just a very close friend, that I could never deal with his perverted ways, writing those stupid books and invading privacy for research." Tsunade rolled her eyes, thinking of the man's goofy, conceited atmosphere.

"I wonder if Naruto will be the same way." Sakura asked rhetorically. "It seems everyone has kind of turned out like their teachers, don't you think?"

"Indeed. It's an amazing thing you can see from the centuries of student/pupil relationships we have. Kakashi is a lot like his father, but more so like his mentor, Yondaime. You have no idea how much of myself I see in you." Tsunade said with a creased-eyed smile, "And my god…looking at Naruto I can see Jiraya when he was Naruto's age…Especially the relationship you have with him."

Sakura let out an amused snort, "Well at least you didn't crush on Orochimaru."

Tsunade nearly gagged at that one, "no, more often than not, that man gave me the creeps. I didn't even like being alone with him when we were in a team. Don't get me wrong, I could have easily defended myself, but I felt a lot safer when Jiraya was there…He would always try to protect me…" She trailed off as she hung her head, blonde hair shielding her face from Sakura seeing the sadness in her eyes, "even to this day, I wish I had at least told him how I felt. I was just afraid of losing one more person, after I lost my first love, Dan. I figured if I distanced myself, it wouldn't hurt when he left..." It was the first time Sakura had ever seen the strong woman cry, "But it hurt that much more because I never said anything."

Sakura looked at the woman with empathy, and she knew so well what Tsunade meant. There was so much about Naruto that she loved, and though some things about him irritated her, she knew he would never leave her, never hurt her, always protect her, and treat her the way she desired to be treated. Because inside, there was still a little part of that 13 year old Sakura left in her, hoping for a happy ever after. And she knew, if she ever wanted those dreams to come true, the picture would be minus one Uchiha and plus one Uzumaki.

But that's now how this picture was painted.

* * *

It had been a month since that fateful day.

Sasuke had been imprisoned under strict ANBU guard, his life filtered with interrogations that lead Ibiki and his team to assume that indeed, the talented Uchiha was back for good. Time and time again Danzou would warn Tsunade that it was a part of a ploy to destroy Konoha from within and tried to persuade her to kill the boy while they had the chance, but the fifth shook her head in fervent opposition. He was much more valuable alive, she would say, and such a move would create a nine-tailled opponent for Konoha.

Not that Naruto was entirely pleased with Sasuke's return. Sure, the sunny blonde was glad that his old comrade had given up his traitorous lifestyle and returned home, but Sakura's stories had left the young future-hokage with the desire to punch the living daylights out of their old comrade. And this was even before she told him the worst part…

Things on Sakura's end seemed to return to normal. Since the verdict remained that she had been taken against her will, she was not subjected to the same lifestyle as Sasuke, although she felt like she was getting away with murder by being able to walk the streets freely. On the surface, everything seemed to be the same. She had yet to tell anyone the news, not even her mother, who at this point, would be more than happy to strangle the Uchiha if given the chance.

"Honestly, Saku-chan, I don't see why you ever liked him to begin with." Her mother said one night while peeling potatoes and preparing for dinner, "those Uchiha have been snakes from day one. Always have been."

Sakura's anger swelled a little as she cut the peeled potatoes into quarters. She couldn't understand why she was getting so defensive of the one she had desired to punch on numerous occasions; perhaps it was from the years of defending said Uchiha. Yeah, that was it. She was trained to defend him. "Well, Kakashi-sensei's old teammate was an Uchiha, but he was really easy going and carefree, like Naruto. I don't think they're _all_ bad."

The aged woman sighed, shaking her head as she moved to peel the squash, "Perhaps, but I've seen a lot more bad come from them than good. We could have lost our first Hokage if he didn't defeat Uchiha Madara, who challenged him for power."

Sakura flinched. Madara. Surely that wasn't the same man Sasuke mentioned when he announced his plan to revive Itachi. He mentioned about not being able to look Madara in the eye. Was that because he was an Uchiha and possessed the Sharingan? She had been told not to look Itachi in the eyes because he could trap her under genjutsu that way. Is that why Sasuke couldn't?

"Did Madara die?" She asked.

"So the story goes. Though ironically, no one knows where he was buried. Some say it was at the Valley of the End."

Valley of the End. She had heard that name somewhere. Was it in her early history lessons at the academy? It sounded…_Wait! That's where Kakashi found Naruto after his last fight with Sasuke. Well that's ironic!_ "So he could still be alive, say by teleportation or an illusion?"

Her mother raised an eyebrow at her, "I suppose…why do you care?"

Sakura looked back down at her chopping, feeling like a child caught stealing from the cookie jar. "Well…when I was with them, Sasuke mentioned a person in charge of Akatsuki named Madara…it just seemed uncanny…"

"Wouldn't surprise me. Those Uchiha are never up to any good. Always killing, killing, killing." She turned, waving her peeler at Sakura as she spoke, "and look where it's got them! If Sasuke doesn't breed, and lets hope to god he doesn't, it'll be the last of them!"

The medic-nin felt her stomach drop six feet beneath her. She looked down, continuing to chop the potatoes wordlessly, growing silent. Finally, after a tension she could no longer stand, she spoke up, "Ka-san…there's something I need to tell you."

"hm?" The woman seemed to suspect nothing as she continued to prepare dinner."

"Kaa-san, I really think you should sit down for this…" Sakura urged

The woman placed her peeler down on the counter, turning to look at her daughter with dread only a mother could show. "Just tell me…"

Sakura continued to look down as she struggled to get the words out of her system. "I…when I was taken…" she looked up at the worried woman, unable to fluff the words and make them sound lighter, "I'm pregnant with his child."

If the horrified, silent, yet all-too-powerful blank look on her mother's face was anything to go by, Sakura felt that she might had been better to ease the woman into the conversation, preferably over a nice cup of tea, and not when sharp objects were near by.

"I'm sorry, I…I didn't think it would happen…I was caught off guard and…" Sakura tried to fill in the tense air while her mother recovered from the shock.

"He didn't rape you did he?!"

"No! I mean, well, I wasn't exactly expecting it but…I could have gotten away if I wanted…" Sakura bit her lip as she looked away, the peeled potatoes suddenly becoming very interesting.

The woman finally closed her mouth, a firm frown gracing her aged-face. "Well do you regret it now?"

The words bit. They stung, they penetrated, they permeated every cell in her young female body and they poisoned the nucleus. She felt herself grow weak in shame but strong in anger. "I don't…" she trailed off, looking away. "I don't know."

"What are you going to do with the child?" the woman asked.

"I'm going to keep him. I have a feeling Sasuke would kill me if I aborted it."

"He knows?" Her mother asked, a little bit calmer at this point, though only by milli-bits.

"He knew before I did."

"How is that possible?" the woman asked, "Wait, let me guess, Sharingan right?" the woman rolled her eyes. " That godforsaken keki-genkai."

"Fortune teller." Sakura had to laugh when that came out. It sounded stupid, but if it hadn't been for the fortune teller, she wouldn't be here.

"Wait, so have you had the test done? Because you can't rely on a fortune teller." The woman sounded hopeful.

"I did it the day I got back. It came back positive, and I missed this month's period." Sakura sighed, "I suppose I regret doing it so soon. I had hoped it would have been under circumstances where I was ready, married, settled and all that wonderful stuff, but as I look at a shinobi's lifestyle, look at Kurenai-san, that's just not the way things go."

Her mother, a stay at home mom born in a smaller village in the fire country, never understood why her daughter desired to be a kunoichi. She had tried to persuade her little cherry blossom to stay a genin and stay at home, but the young girl wouldn't have it. Fueled by her desire to win against her rival, Yamanaka Ino, and chase her childhood crush, Uchiha Sasuke—who at this point was ruining her life—Sakura wouldn't allow anything to stand between her and her dreams.

The only thing that prevented her was her mother. But as a ninja, her father agreed it would be good for Sakura to become a strong kunoichi so she could protect herself in the face of danger.

That was when he was still alive.

Killed in action by a fatal miscalculation during an attempt to ambush one of Orochimaru's old hideouts, Haruno Ichibou left behind a wife and a daughter the day before her fourteenth birthday. Though Naruto had only been gone for a few months with his training with Jiraya and she knew he would be back, Sakura still felt completely alone. The days since, Sakura had become closer to her mother, though not completely, with the fact that Haruno Homura wished that her only daughter would give up her shinobi liftestyle and settle for being a stay-at-home townsperson. Sakura refused.

"It could have been that way if you hadn't become a shinobi." Her mother shook her head, resuming her place at the kitchen sink, peeling carrots now.

"I don't regret that though." Sakura sighed, "Becoming a shinobi, getting to know Naruto and Kakashi sensei…they've taught me so much. And from seeing life from the aspect where it could all be your last breath is just something you don't understand unless you've been there."

"Doesn't seem worth it to me."

"Well it is." Sakura argued calmly. "I wouldn't trade anything for the ability to protect my village, my friends," she smiled, "even my dear nagging mother."

Homura smiled slightly, "Endearing, but don't think you're off the hook. How are you going to take care of a child while being a shinobi?"

"I'll have to take a leave of absence. Kurenai-san just had to do the same thing, so maybe we can help each other out or something. Though she's much further along than myself."

"How far are you?" she asked quietly, seeming to finally come to terms with the idea.

"Only a month." She responded nonchalantly, surprised at how well her mother was taking this.

"Have you thought of names?"

"Welll…" Sakura began, "this is going to sound silly, but the fortune teller told me that I should name him Naruto to 'keep him safe'. I'm not sure what that means, but I really don't want to risk it."

"Sasuke isn't going to take lightly to that, you know…" Homura warned, tossing their chopped up vegetables into a boiling pot of water.

"I know…but I really want my son to be safe and, god, I just want him to be happy. I don't want him to have a tragedy like Sasuke's, or grow up never knowing his parents like Naruto. I want him to have a good family, a promising future, for him to be strong but kind…"

Homura smiled, "every mother wants that for her child, Saku-chan."

Sakura sighed, "I just hope I can do it for him." She looked down, pausing her cooking and growing silent, "I'm just so scared…what if I mess up? How am I going to get through the pregnancy? I'm only seventeen!"

Her mother looked at her with pity, "Just one day at a time, saku-chan." She smiled warmly, "Why don't we talk about this later and just focus on getting dinner ready for now?"

Sakura smiled weakly, "alright." Perhaps things would be okay....

* * *

Three months had brought a change in climate, the leaves on Konoha fallen off their trees, bare branches now covered in white dusty snow. Having been in prison under strict ANBU surveillance, Sasuke still managed to sneak out five times with a simple bushin, sharingan, and an illusion. But no one noticed, not even the young female he watched. Sometimes he even walked out in daylight, amidst the common people of Konohagakure. Masking himself as a common carpenter, an old man, his last venture out, he decided to go a step further—he decided to transform into Naruto.

Of course he had been careful to watch their interactions. But he had obviously missed something within the time he hadn't gone out. Knowing that Tsunade had plans to send him on a mission, he figured he would be careful and meet her somewhere out of the way, but not too far from the public eye. The place: Team Seven's first training ground.

When Sakura finally found him there minutes later, he was pleased to find her looking perplexed. "I thought you went on a mission with Team Gai?" She asked, her cherry pink hair now reaching her shoulder blades and she tilted her head sideways.

"Tsunade baa-chan decided I need to stay." He explained, "There have been rumors that Akatsuki's on its way here. She already sent out a team to search them out just in case."

Sakura thought this was strange, but didn't question her master, "Well I suppose that's better for us…" she smiled deviously, catching Sasuke off guard.

Playing along, he smirked (a feat that was all too easy for the Uchiha) and asked, "Oh? And why is that?" pretending to feign an ignorance that was actually real.

Lowering her eyes, she walked closer to him, her voice husky and ark, "you should know…" she began as she lean forward to kiss him. She was viciously stopped by his hand pushing her away. "Naruto…" she looked at him confused

Narrowing his eyes, he released the transformation jutsu, revealing his true identity. Sakura let out a yelp.

"Sasuke!" her eyes widened "What, how…you're supposed to be in prison!"

"I am. Those ANBU guards are obviously newbies though." He frowned even more than his usual scowl, "Sakura…since when did you become such a slut?"

She gaped like a guilty child then glared, "Since you used me." She growled. Sasuke raised an amused eyebrow, "And besides, why should you care? It's not like you love me or anything. It's not like we were a couple. I'm just a tool for reviving your clan, that's it." She slammed her hands on her hips in fury.

"A damn good thing that's all you are." He bit, "wouldn't want to date someone who'd spread her legs for just anyone."

Sakura snarled, "You fucking bastard!" she glared, "You have no right to say that! Naruto actually loves me, unlike you. All the time that I've needed someone, needed _you_, you were never there. But you know who was? Naruto. He always loved me from day one, but I was too blind chasing after you, you fucking arrogant asshole that cared about nobody but yourself. Realizing this and realizing how much Naruto means to me is not something I'll let you chastise me for. If anything, I should, I should…I should be ashamed that I ever wasted a second on you and let you do this to me!" She nearly screamed, the fury in her eyes all to evident for her words to be taken with a grain of salt.

"Did you forget though?" Sasuke smirked.

"What?!" she snapped through clenched teeth.

"The day you let me take you was the day you pledged yourself to _me._ You. Are. _Mine_." He walked up to her and held her face in his hands, eyes growing red to capture her in a tsukiyomi of that night.

Watching herself, she was disgusted at the weakness in her actions. She regretted ever letting him touch her, the moans she made, the words she pleaded for him to take her. She bit her tongue harshly in order to draw blood and pull herself from the genjutsu.

"I never pledged myself to you. I am NOT yours."

Looking back at his slightly surprised face with ferocity, she slapped him across the face, watching as his body disappeared into a puff of smoke. But she wouldn't let him get off that easy. Oh no, not now.

Haruno Sakura was more than infuriated.

* * *

RA: I am so sorry that this took so long to update! I actually wrote chapter 7 but then completely re-did it after I decided to take the plot in a different direction. I apologize to you sasusaku fans for the implied narusaku at the end. But you've got to admit, there's posibility for relationship on either end, and I really thought that getting her stuck in the middle would add to this story, especially for future events.

That being said, WOW! Thank you everyone who has reviewed this far. I will promise I will be updating more frequently now, despite school. I will make it my new years resolution!


	9. Making a Decision

**Chapter 8: Making a Decision**

x-x-x

For some reason, Sakura didn't want to tell the hokage. Nor did she want to tell her mother, Ino, Sai, Kakashi, or anyone about this incident. No, she just wanted the head of Uchiha Sasuke.

Her stomach had ballooned in those last 4 months with the undeniable roundness telling everyone in Konoha the story without words. Many of the village folk frowned upon her, others shook their heads at fate, more than Sakura. She wasn't the first young kunoichi to become pregnant; Sakura had taken care of more than her share of pregnant young women when she began to train under Tsunade. It was the shinobi life. You never know if you'll see your loved one again, so mind as well make the most of your time together.

It was tragic.

After the first few weeks of glares, Sakura began to grow used to the looks. Now, anyone who looked at her, knew precisely to move clear out of her way. She had the face of mother bear protecting her cubs—her eyes were dark and threatening. No doubt, everyone knew she was pissed.

As she marched her way through the village, she finally came to the criminal headquarters where ANBU were trained and summoned, the (rather unstable) police force was gathered and prisoners were kept under strict guard. Walking into the prison, the guard in charge at the front desk looked at her furious gaze and raised an eyebrow.

"Can I help you?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, isn't it obvious I'm here to see him?" Seriously. Everyone in konohagakure knew he was her child's father. Feigning ignorance of it was usually only done so as an insult, and she would have none of it, no matter what the intentions were.

"I'm sorry, he's not allowed to have visitors. I can only allow it with permission from the—"

She yanked him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him close to her face, "I'm the godaime's trusted apprentice, and have been for over four years now. I can predict what she will allow and how she will react better than you even know her middle name. And I know damn well that she would not forbid me from simply talking to my unborn child's father." Releasing his fisted shirt she crooked her eyebrow, "Now, if you would please be so kind!"

The startled young guard nodded, getting up from his seat and walking her through the rows of mostly empty cells. There were a few cat calls from unlucky dimwits, who became silenced after a single glance from the fierce young woman. They came to a door at the end, one guarded by two anbu officers and a barrier jutsu from the looks of things.

"Haruno-san here would like to speak with the prisoner…" he glanced at Sakura, "she has the Godaime's permission."

The two anbu nodded stepping out of the way for her and momentarily releasing the barrier jutsu. The door, not surprisingly, wasn't locked. They didn't bother; a lock to an s-ranked criminal was about as useless as lying to a mind-reader. To contain a criminal of his class required much more than a flimsy mechanical contraption.

When one of the anbu followed her inside, she glared, "I would like to speak with him _alone_, if you don't mind."

"I'm sorry, I can't allow that."

She rolled her eyes, "he got me pregnant, he's not going to kill me. And besides, what worse can he do than this?" she asked, pointing to her stomach, aware of the Uchiha watching her argue.

"Five minutes." The anbu stated harshly. "If you're not out by then, I will have to come in and escort you out."

"This shouldn't take long." She snapped, her attention finally leaving the anbu officer as she glared at the stoic midnight-haired young man sitting on the edge of his bed.

The masked shinobi walked out, and as soon as the door shut, she snapped, "What the fuck is your problem?!" she nearly shouted.

"Whatever do you mean?" he asked smugly, calmly, as if to insult her rage with his collectedness.

"You know damn well. Why are you acting like a jealous prick?" she crossed her arms angrily.

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched, "I'm not jealous at all. Why should I be jealous?"

"Because I love Naruto and not you? Are you just so spoiled from getting all the attention, that when it finally leaves you, you throw a little temper tantrum? Sounds like you haven't grown up much at all."

He glared, "what do you know about me?"

"A lot more than you obviously know about me." She snapped back. Alright, so it was a bit of a cliché answer, but it got to the point. "Stop playing the fucking victim. Get over your little childhood trauma and move on."

Direct target. She hit the nerve dead on, and she knew, slightly fearing for her life now and wishing she had allowed the ANBU to stay with her, as he stood up, that perhaps it was a line she shouldn't have crossed.

"You don't know what it's like to lose everything, everyone." He walked up to her, cornering her against the wall.

She was fearful, yes, but it didn't stop her from being angry as well, "Actually…" she pushed him away with her arms, now stalking him, "I do. While you were playing traitor with that snake ass, my father went off to ambush one of his hideouts, in hopes of finding more clues to bring you back. And guess what. It killed him." She hissed, "And since you've screwed me over, quite literally I might add, I've lost the respect of many the people in this village, even people who meant quite a bit to me." Now having him against the wall, the roles were reversed, "And I lost every fucking dream I ever had, I watched every single one shatter in front of my eyes, all thanks to _you._" She spat, and Sasuke could have sworn he saw fire in the pupils of her jade green eyes.

Getting in his face, she growled at him, "so please, allow me to keep one of my dreams. Get out of my life and leave me and Naruto alone."

He raised an eyebrow, "And this is coming from the one who wouldn't stop chasing after me even after I told you time and time again that I had cut all cords with you."

She backed off, satisfied having gotten out everything she wanted to say, "My mistake," she said, pressing her hand against her stomach, "and obviously not my only one."

"Then why are you keeping it?" he asked.

"One, because you would kill me if I didn't. Two, because I'm not so cowardly that I would take a life to make up for my mistakes." She glared. "But you never answered my question. Why does it bother you so much that I am with Naruto now?"

"He is taking what is mine, and you are allowing him to do so." He responded, sitting back down on the bed.

"What the hell do you mean by that? I never swore myself to you. Sorry if you think that, but there was no pen and paper contract." Sakura rolled her eyes, the sarcasm seeping out of her words.

"You have what is mine in you." He nodded to her stomach, "Do not think I will allow that idiot to raise my child."

"Oh, so now you want some picture perfect family where we live happily ever after? Don't you know you screwed that up before you even screwed me?"

Sasuke was silent. Inner Sakura was doing a victory dance. She had rendered the almighty Uchiha Sasuke speechless and was feeling very, very proud of herself. "I cannot raise a child by myself, and I will not marry anyone but the mother of my child in order to keep the sanctity of my clan." He responded calmly.

"Oh, great to know that I'm a cause for charity, not a wife to be loved!" she threw her hands in the air, "and what makes you think I'm going to marry you, huh? Sorry, but if I ever get married to anyone, its going to be someone who first off, _loves_ me, and secondly, wants to marry me so he can spend the rest of his life with me, not to keep his clan from looking like the fucked up family unit that it is, will be, and always has been."

He glared at her, "you know nothing about my family."

"Yeah, 'cause they're dead! And you know why that is? Because they're a series of murderous, traitorous fucks that dug their own graves in their quest for power. Gee, sounds like the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, huh?" she bit. _Damn, if words could kill, I would be in the ANBU by now._

Within a millisecond he had her back thrown against the wall and her face yanked upwards in his hand. His eyes bore the red glare of the sharingan, yet it didn't scare her. The only thing she was afraid of was the force of his body pressed against her stomach, that it might crush the child. "Don't you EVER talk about my family like that, you understand?"

She glared back with the same intensity, raising her knee and kicking him in the anatomy she wished he never had to begin with. He stumbled back somewhat, allowing her to get away. "Fine." She spat as she reached for the door, "but don't think that I will ever become a part of it either."

Exiting the prison cell, the metal door slammed shut and the two ANBU looking at the girl who walked past them in a fast pace, head held high and proud. The masked jounin looked at each other, the first one shrugging, the second shaking his head. Oh the generation they had bore…

* * *

Night fell. Sakura lay on her back, her left hand holding up a worn picture frame, the other lazily resting on her stomach, subconsciously protecting the child growing within. The lights were off as she had bid goodnight to her mother, who now thought she was fast asleep. Instead, here she was, fully clothed, with no intent to cuddle up within the sheets below her.

The light of the moon provided all the light she needed to see the old worn traces of the young faces of team seven. She had to laugh at how Kakashi had now grown a few wrinkle lines around his once young crease-eyed smile. She knew that those creases bore the weight of reassuring his comrades during their toughest battles and toughest of times. Sakura had many people she looked up to in her life, among them Hatake Kakashi.

Her saddened eyes moved toward the spiky haired blond, the one she constantly yelled at and put down during her younger days. She hated herself for it. She was just another ignorant villager, scorning him because, well, everyone did it. Before team seven was formed, not once did she ever try to look past his goofy grin to see the sadness behind his eyes, nor did she ever believe that he could possibly become the future hokage. She never expected to grow up and respect him for the person he was, much less fall in love with him.

No, she never thought these things because of her constant adoration for the stoic Uchiha standing to the left of her in their group picture. The boy was looking away, out of the picture, an obvious desire to be anywhere but with his group. _Some things never change._ Her nose slightly twisted upwards as her mouth fell downward into a micro-expression of disgust. Now, she hated him. Yes, he was talented. He had become perhaps the strongest of the rookie nine, next to Naruto and Neji. Yes, he was extremely handsome, the body of an Adonis with his willowy yet defined and toned muscles rippling under taught skin. His black raven hair made him even more beautiful as the soft tendrils made a midnight conterast with his milky white and unflawed skin. And those eyes…

Sakura was starting to blush as she thought of the night he had taken her. _No Sakura! He used you!_ Anger welled up her heart as she looked at his picture. He thought he was too good for his team then, and he still did today. She thought perhaps Kakashi's teamwork training had gotten through to him that he _wasn't_ the only person that mattered. Maybe it did, but as soon as he learned it, it seemed to have left cognition.

It suddenly dawned on her. Maybe Sasuke didn't kill his inner self. Maybe the mask they were trying to remove was already taken off when he left them. Maybe the good Sasuke they knew, the one who tried to save her during the sand's raid against Konoha was all just a mask. Maybe this cold-hearted arrogant jerk she faced in the prison cell was the real Sasuke.

If this was true, there was no hope. And maybe Madara was right…

_**Earlier that day…**_

Sakura walked back up towards Team Seven's training ground where she had unexpectedly run into Sasuke. She slammed the ground with all her might, ripping the earth where he sat years ago, eating lunch while Naruto was tied up. She made sure no one would ever sit there again, hoping there would never be another case like Sasuke's.

"That's a mighty punch you throw." She heard a voice say above her. Looking forward, she saw a man with an orange spiraled mask sitting on top of the memorial stone, ignorant of the disrespect in this action.

"You…I know you…" she hissed, "You're the Akatsuki guy we met in the forest…"

"Actually, you also know me another way." He hopped down, walking toward her, "My name is Uchiha Madara."

She froze. This was not a good place to be, alone with no way to protect herself from an Akatsuki, much less the most powerful Uchiha that ever existed. "What do you want?" her voice slightly quivering as she tried to hide the fear in her face and failed miserably.

"Calm down little blossom, I'm not going to hurt you." He smirked behind the mask, and Sakura could hear the faux innocence in his voice. "I merely want to offer you a…proposition." He reached out, a gloved hand tracing her cheek. She wanted to bat it away, but was too afraid of what may become of her if she did so.

"continue…" she spoke, defiance reflecting in her voice and eyes instead of her actions.

"To the point. I like that." He chuckled, "Alright, well, we of Akatsuki aren't too happy with Sasuke right now. He failed to capture the eight tails after all, and simply up and left without giving us any warning. So, as a result, I had hoped he would be a little bit more useful, but it turns out he's going to be more of a burden than an asset to us. Especially if he talks."

"He's not much of a talker…" Sakura scoffed, hardly comprehending that she was having casual conversation with an Akatsuki member, much less the leader.

"He's a lot like his brother." Madara looked up at the blue sky, the white wispy clouds seeming to move by, instead of the world moving underneath them.

Sakura didn't know what to say. Naruto had told her what the elders had told them—that Itachi indeed was a kind, peaceful person and Madara's story was true. She was strictly forbidden to tell Sasuke this under the threat of death. Even he wasn't allowed to tell Sakura, but he did anyways, knowing that she wouldn't tell a soul. To see how calm a man Itachi was and how irrational Sasuke had become made her wonder what caused Madara to think they were at all alike.

"You're probably not on the best of terms with Sasuke right now, no?" Madara finally spoke up.

"Che, that's an understatement." She rolled her eyes.

"I could sense the sharingan firing up while you were talking to him in the prision."

"You were stalking me?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Well I wanted to talk to you, but I can't exactly do that where hundreds of people are around you." He pointed out, "anyways, back to my point. You're mad at him. You want revenge on him for using you like this, am I right?"

She looked away. Yeah, she had wanted to pummel his face in to the ground on more than one occasion. She was angry, bitter, and wished that he had never existed. Basically…"Yes, I do."

"And your boyfriend is the nine-tails. Pein needs every Akatsuki member's chakra in order to extract their biju, yet he has no way of knowing who is giving their chakra and who isn't. Itachi always gave the least amount."

Sakura's eyes widened, "are you asking me to join Akatsuki?"

"The rumors were true then. You're quite sharp."

"I can't! If you haven't noticed, your organization is konoha's sworn enemy and I'm pregnant! I'm no use to you guys."

"Actually, after you created a cure for Sasori's poison and healed the kazekage's brother, your name spread like wildfire throughout every country. If you haven't noticed, our men have been dropping like flies. We need a healer. In turn, we'll train you up to become strong enough to defeat Sasuke."

She bit her lip. Sakura had to admit, the thought of being able to dethrone the almighty Uchiha was a little appealing at this point. Plus, she could protect Naruto from the inside and gather as much information and warn Konoha of any attacks. "But…how will I be able to train while I'm pregnant? I've been taken off shinobi duty because of this."

"For now, we don't need you to fight, just heal. Until you have the child, our female member will be able to help take care of you. After that we'll train you."

Sakura looked away, "and if I refuse?"

"I'll have to kill you." Madara shrugged.

"Well then it doesn't seem like I have much of a choice then, no?" she clenched her fists.

"Well you could go down as a martyr and solve nothing, or you could join us and get something done." He rose out his palms, gesturing the weight of either choice, "you decide."

She sighed, "Can I at least think it over?"

"Sure. But I'll have to 'stalk' you for the rest of the day to make sure you don't try to tell anyone. If you do, I will definitely have to kill you."

She rolled her eyes, "great."

**_Later…_**

Getting up from her warm place on the bed, she reached for her shinobi back-pack on the floor as she made her decision. She locked the door to her bedroom then walked over quietly to her window as she opened it just wide enough to get out. She closed it from the outside for good measure, then set about to walk through the village as inconspicuously as possible.

Finally reaching the training grounds, she looked around curiously for the man with the spiraled mask. Seconds later, the man emerged from the trees, mask finally taken off. What she saw shocked her. _And he's over 80 years old?!_ If Sasuke were to grow his hair out and age a little, he would be an exact representative of the face she was presented with. _It's a wonder he keeps it covered up…_

"So is that backpack a comforting measure or have you accepted my offer?" he asked, finally causing Sakura to close her gaping mouth.

The girl looked up at the five stone faces of Konoha's hokages, living and deceased. Never taking her eyes off the carved mountain, she replied solemly. "I accept."

"Well lets be on our way then, shall we?" Madara smirked and grabbed her hand, the two vanishing out of thin air.

* * *

**END PART I**

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RA: Don't worry, Part II will be up just as soon. The only reason I've divided these into parts is because, well, you've seen everything from mostly Sakura's point of view. We have an omniscient narrator for her feelings, emotions and inner thoughts, but what about Sasuke? What's his take on all this? Keep reading and you'll find out ;]

Also, I've decided to hold a one-shot contest! Check out my profile for more details.

Well, that's all for now. I know I sound like a broken record, but please keep reviewing! Thank you so much to everyone who has! Your words of encouragement are what keep me writing and not feeling like a total failure XD.


	10. Doppelganger

**PART II**

**Chapter 9: Doppelganger**

**x-x-x

* * *

**

Escorted by the same two ANBU officers that guarded his room, Sasuke walked grudgingly towards the hokages office. He refused to return the stares of the villagers, some of them even former comrades and academy classmates. One blonde haired kunoichi watched from the distance with special interest in the imprisoned former missing-nin, laughing that the irony that it was. Sasuke Uchiha, who once walked the streets freely, now had his hands tied behind his back, two masked ninja at his side, their presence an obvious burden on him, yet he showed none of it. If only he had never left! She laughed to herself, shaking her head, all romantic interest in the Uchiha completely obliterated the day he left Konohagakure.

They entered the Hokage's office with a stern glare plastered on the woman's deceivingly young face. Sasuke figured Sakura had ratted on him for escaping the prison and being an ass. Okay, so maybe he did feel that perhaps he had chosen the wrong words to speak to her with, and maybe said things that didn't quite convey how he felt, and was maybe a bit harsh. But he didn't feel bad. Uchiha's don't feel bad. Just like Uchiha's don't get jealous or fall in love.

Nope. They definitely don't fall in love. Because if Uchiha's fell in love, he would have had parents and they would've had children and happy families and…_Oh wait. They did._

"Where is Sakura?" Tsunade asked flatly, firmly, and so suddenly that Sasuke wouldn't have known she was talking to him if it weren't for the fact that she was looking directly at him. Still, he felt the need to clarify this.

"Are you asking me?" he asked.

"Don't play stupid, of course I am." Tsunade snapped, impatient and unwilling to play games.

Sasuke glared, "Why should I know? I've been locked up for the past three months and only just spoke to her yesterday."

"What did you two talk about?" she inquired as her patience began stretch to an almost invisible layer.

"She came to tell me that her and Naruto are together and that she didn't want anything to do with me anymore." He shrugged, still not sure if Sakura had told the hokage about what he had done to deserve it. Not that he believed he deserved it. Oh no. Again, Uchiha's don't feel guilt.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. Well this was news to her. "She and Naruto are together now?"

"That's what I said." He repeated calmly.

"Well that may explain where she went then…but it doesn't explain how she managed to make it out of Konoha without any one of the watch guards seeing her." Tsunade relaxed, leaning back in her chair.

"She left?" he asked, the faintest tinge of alarm seeping into his voice.

"Without a trace." Tsuande responded, "Which concerns me greatly." She sighed, then turned to the window. "You're late."

Kakashi hopped through, waving a hand in apology, "gomenasai." He smiled, carrying his ridiculous (Sasuke thought) orange book. _He still reads those things?_

"Sasuke," she began, looking back at the teen, "What do you know about Uchiha Madara's abilities?"

The teen's upper lip twitched in anxiety. "Not much, actually. Just that he possesses mangekyou sharingan. Other than that, I haven't seen him in battle."

"What do you know about the mangekyou?" she asked, drilling the raven for answers.

He didn't know whether or not he should be overjoyed to be able to boast about his clan's abilities, or adverse to the subject in terms of what it had cost him, "A great deal, as you would imagine…" he trailed off, "what in particular would you like to know? How it's attained? What it can do? Advanced forms?"

Kakashi had to smirk at the boy's obvious Uchiha pride. Although, he could sense the teen was straining to keep himself collected, for reasons Kakashi couldn't understand. "How about jutsu that it affords? Madara's version in particular."

"Unfortunately, I don't know what he can do with his sharingan. My brother, as you know, possessed the Tsukiyomi ability, and as I later found out, also wielded Amaterasu, a black flame that consumes anything it touches for seven days." The boy smirked.

Kakashi took careful note of how he addressed Itachi. Instead of calling him "that man", as he had so referred to the elder Uchiha in his younger days, Sasuke now called him "my brother", a delicate slip-up that he wasn't sure if Sasuke had even come to realize he had made.

"What about space-time jutsu? Obviously Madara has been around much longer than he should have been. I can throw people and objects into different dimensions with my sharingan, but it puts me on bed rest for days. If he is the Uchiha clan's strongest member as he is famed to be, no doubt this would be an easy feat for him to carry out, no?" Kakashi mused. He had obviously thought this over long before Sasuke had even met with the hokage.

"Like I said…" Sasuke began to show impatience, "I don't know any of his techniques or abilities. What you said sounds highly plausible and possible, but I can't know for sure."

"Well lets just say he can, then, for now." Kakashi put the possibility out for them to examine, "Then it wouldn't be difficult for him to pull Sakura out of Konoha without our knowledge."

The raven haired teen fell silent. Kakashi was right. Madara could do something like this, and easily. And he had all the reason to do so as well. "I agree it's the only possible explanation." He spoke finally as all eyes rested on him.

"Sasuke, are you still in contact with Uchiha Madara?"

"I wouldn't talk to him now even if he wanted me to." He replied calmly, "He may be one of my clan, but we want to achieve vastly different goals. I have no reason to contact him…" he trailed off at Tsunade's raised eyebrow, "_had_ no reason to contact him."

"As of right now, you are the only one who knows how to find him or have any idea of possible locations he might be." She sighed, "As much as I hate to do this…I'm taking you out of prison. You will be given this one chance to redeem yourself."

The teen nodded compliantly, absent of smirks or mal-intent. He was just freed—he didn't want to fly out of the nest before testing his wings. "So you are sending me on a mission then." Sasuke asked rather than stated.

"You will be accompanied by Kakashi and your two other teammates." Tsunade smirked.

The Uchiha mentally cringed. _Teammates…she's rubbing the past into my face. I swear to god that if I find out that what Madara said was true, I am going to kick some serious hokage ass._ "If I'm not mistaken, Sakura told me yesterday that Naruto was off on a mission, and she herself is the person that we are searching for. I don't recall having two other teammates, other than Kakashi-sensei."

The silver-haired jounin flinched. It was so strange to see his former missing-nin student standing before him, still calling him sensei. "Ah, godaime-sama, he's right. Sai and Yamato were never part of our cell when he was…younger…" Kakashi didn't know exactly how to phrase it without sounding too condescending…yet…it was the truth.

"Sai…" Sasuke sneered. He remembered Sai, the one who was meant to replace him in "team Kakashi". Sasuke didn't like the guy. Something about him reeked, though he never got close enough to smell him. And Sasuke was thankful for this.

"I take it you've met him?" Kakashi smirked amusedly

"Yes, back when…" Sasuke bit his tongue. Damnit! He wanted to just say 'back when he was training under Orochimaru' like it was no big deal—like it had been to him—but he had to play the act of the repentant prodigal missing-nin, "…when _reunited _with Naruto and Sakura." _That freak spouted off some crap about trying to protect bonds and gave me this creepy fake-assed smile. It was rather amusing to wipe it off his face with my sharingan, though. Perhaps I'll have some more fun with that. _ He mused, his trademark smirk weaseling back onto his face.

"Sasuke, you WILL work with your comrades. Do know that if you do betray us again, the punishment is death." Tsunade warned, seeing the evil smile beginning to form on his face again.

"Hn." _As if anyone in konoha could actually even lay a finger on me…_ "I will not leave again, if that is your concern." Tsunade nodded to the two ANBU behind Sasuke to remove the handcuffs on his wrists. For the first time, Sasuke looked surprised, "you letting me free _now_?" he asked, expecting her only to free him when he was to leave.

She nodded, "Go home and get ready to leave."

Sasuke swallowed hard. _Home_..._Is my apartment still intact? What about the Uchiha district? _ He turned to leave, feeling a hand set on his shoulder.

Kakashi was about to speak but then stopped, "The heaven seal is gone…" he said aloud more to himself than to Sasuke. The raven haired teen stayed silent, exchanging words with glances. Finally the copy-nin spoke again, "let me come with you, Sasuke."

The raven haired teen nodded simply and the two slipped out of the office silently, the door closing softly behind them. Sasuke wasn't an emotional person, but he couldn't deny the sense of déjà vu that took over as he walked along his old sensei through the hokage's building. He wouldn't admit it, but…he was a little happy to be back in safety's hands. It reminded him of when he was little, running into his mother's open arms as he buried his tiny face in her apron. Sasuke smiled.

"You must be happy to be free." Kakashi spoke, noting the teen's unusual facial expression.

"I'm…." he began, unwilling to say the words which expressed his true feelings. _Happy to be back…_ "just reminiscing."

"We all missed you, Sasuke." The jounin gave one of his characteristic crease-eyed smiles that reminded the raven so much of his younger days. "Even Sakura, no matter how angry she may seem." He laughed, "and I don't think I have to tell you how much Naruto missed you."

Jealousy. As soon as the happy fluffy feeling began to grow in his heart, the mere mention of the blonde dobe made the youngest Uchiha clench his fist. "I don't know how he can go on about being like a brother to me. He just betrayed me after all his begging me to come back."

"And you don't think he's felt betrayal?" Kakashi questioned calmly, though Sasuke understood the stabbing insinuation, "He's wanted Sakura for a long time. She wanted you for a long time. But you hurt them both. Maybe you should let them be together, as a payment for what you did to them." He wasn't going to candy coat it—Sasuke had been an absolute jerk, and Naruto had every right to be with Sakura, even if she was pregnant with his child.

Sasuke looked straight ahead, silent. He wasn't quite ready to come to terms and admit that he was wrong. But Kakashi had a sneaky suspicion that what he had said to the teen had at least registered. But one word kept playing over and over like a mantra in his head, prohibiting Sasuke from agreeing with the scarecrow.

_Mine.

* * *

_

The red setting sun brought Team Gai and Naruto back to the village with two over enthused green spandex-wearing ninja and three others dragging their feet far behind them.

"I'll never understand how they can have so much energy this late at night, after a five day mission, no less." Tenten sighed, watching as Gai and Lee ran off through the village gates as a race for the "power of youth".

"Even I have an overabundance of stamina, but man…" Naruto muttered, his back arched as he dangled his arms in front of him. He was so ready for a nice hot bath.

Neji remained silent as always, preserving the dignity of the Hyuuga clan with his stoic demeanor. He reminded Naruto somewhat of Sasuke, though the latter was much more of a loose cannon than the long haired byakugan wielder.

When they reported to the hokage's office the details of their mission, Tsunade held Naruto back after dismissing the rest of the team. He had anticipated that the subject had something to do with Akatsuki, but was blown away at what the blonde haired Sanin had to tell him.

When she revealed to him what Sasuke had told them, however, the blonde was at an even greater loss for words.

"Talk to Sasuke before your mission tomorrow. And try to avoid a fight, if at all possible." Tsunade ordered.

Naruto nodded, yet the characteristic energy from his voice was missing. Instead of the charged "Hai!" he would normally give with a salute to the forehead or something of the sort, the blonde simply turned to walk out of the office. Shizune and Tsuande tried to reassure each other that he was simply drained from the mission, but neither could fool the other.

* * *

A loud knock at the door startled, though did not completely surprise Uchiha Sasuke. He got up from his position of lying flat on his back on his old mattress, remembering how good it felt on his young body after a long mission.

He had spent the afternoon with Kakashi, dusting and cleaning nooks and crannies to the point of perfection that Uchiha's were famed for. They had cleaned in mostly silence, save for the few times where Kakashi would ask where to put certain things and Sasuke would direct him. Other than that, the two were known for being men of few words, and a few words were all that were exchanged.

The cleaning process went quick, and Kakashi had excused himself after the tidying had been done, claiming to have a meeting with an academy teacher and was late for it. Sasuke waved him off and soon had the apartment to himself, left to look through old boxes that he had wanted to explore, but not in the presence of anyone who could see his sentimental side.

Not that he had a sentimental side.

He opened the cover of one of the boxes to find many picture frames stacked face down on top of each other. The first one he lifted out seemed to burn his fingers the moment he set eyes on it. Pressing his lips together tightly, he couldn't help but continue to stare at the four faces looking back at him. He lied back on the bed, gazing at it in one hand as he wrapped the other arm under his head. Each figure in the photograph had midnight hair and onyx eyes, though each unique and individual as the faces which held them. It was his family picture, taken just before his sixth birthday. After gazing at the face of the man he had hated for so long, bitterness and sadness welling inside him, he finally turned to look at himself, shocked at the revelation it provided.

He was smiling wide-eyed with a big goofy grin and much shorter hair, clinging onto his mother, who held him in her lap. He couldn't believe that this happy little child, once so carefree and full of energy had turned into this—a calloused, pessimistic, ice cold being who seldom showed emotion and never felt love. The face in the photograph seemed to be someone other than him. It couldn't be him! For as long as he could remember, he had been unhappy, revengeful, cold and bitter. How could this young child looking back at him with warm, cheerful eyes have been him?

And thus, he was startled out of his thoughts when the front door began to shake with harsh knocks. He propped the picture up on his nightstand before walking out of his room to answer the door. Looking through the peep-hole, he glared at the door, readying his menacing face for the one behind the door.

"What do you want?" he asked as he opened the door.

"Can I come in?" Naruto asked, shrugging his shoulders as if this should have been a normal thing to do in the first place.

"No. Tell me what you want and leave." Sasuke snapped.

"Okay…well first off, Tsunade told me what Sakura said." Naruto began to explain.

"That's nice. Good bye." Sasuke went to shut the door, only to have it be stopped by a strong palm keeping it from closing.

"Wait." Naruto sighed frustrated, "Sakura lied to you. We're not dating. We never were."

Sasuke opened the door to raise an eyebrow at him, "Right. Hence why she tried to kiss me when I turned into you. Nice try, but you're the one that's lying."

The first sentence shocked the blonde into a million questions just enough that he hadn't time to react when Sasuke slammed the door on him. Naruto growled, leaning against the door, and began to pound against it.

"Damnit, Sasuke, open up! I don't know why she did that, but we haven't even talked for over two weeks! I've been gone on a mission for five days!"

Sasuke was about to walk away from the door when he heard the last part. _Two weeks? Five days? Mission? That doesn't make sense. Sakura made it seem like Naruto was supposed to leave the day that I talked to her, but that was yesterday. If Naruto was gone, and she was supposed to know…_

The door opened wide within half a millisecond, "Get in here." Sasuke commanded. He sighed in frustration as the blonde stood there, trying to process what was going on. He was taking too long. Sasuke grabbed his wrist and pulled him in, slamming the door behind him.

"What the hell is your problem?" Naruto finally spoke, rubbing his wrist where he had been yanked.

"When I saw Sakura yesterday, I was curious to talk to her so I transformed into you." He explained. Naruto gave him a shit-eating grin.

"Aww, isn't that trick supposed to be for amateurs and dobes?" The blonde stuck out his tongue, reminiscing to the time when Sasuke had scolded him for transforming into him to talk to Sakura four, almost five years ago.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, obviously not in the mood for verbal play. "Can it, dobe. I'm serious. She thought that you were supposed to leave on a mission yesterday, when you've been gone a mission for days. Not only that, she was convinced you were an item with her."

Naruto looked up to his left, "I can't think of any time that would make her think that we were together. Hell, I haven't seen her in weeks."

"Which is why I'm concerned." Suddenly Sasuke's brain seemed to snap as a thought occurred to him, "Madara!"

"What?"

"He's been trailing her, trying to pit her against me."

"Yuh…"

"So what better way to get her to fall in love with you, BY PRETENDING TO BE YOU!" The raven haired teen started to pace the floor, and though Naruto would have been amused at any other time by the Uchiha's distress, he was just as concerned and worried for the medic nin's safety.

"Wait, so you mean some doppelganger was able to convince her to go out with me? That's so not right…" Naruto sighed dejectedly, earning a death glare from the Uchiha, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I'm just as freaked out too that there's been another me running around, doing god knows what with my life."

Sasuke sighed, realizing there was nothing they could do at this point but wait until tomorrow came for their mission, "So you two weren't dating…"

"No."

"And you never asked her out…"

"No."

"Good." Sasuke nodded. Naruto looked at the teen incredulously, amazed at how easily said Uchiha had lost it.

"So…uh…I'm taking that you were ready to beat my face in if I had, then?" Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, knowing that he had asked Sakura out on a number of occasions before Sasuke had returned.

Sasuke turned towards him, raising a slender eyebrow, as if to say, _Are you really asking me that?_

"I'll take that as a yes." Naruto gulped under the Uchiha's stare, wondering at how threatening his gaze had become. "Though, really, it's not like you two are dating. I mean, you do kind of treat her like crap. A lot."

Sasuke sighed, sitting down on his couch, hands folded in front of him in his characteristic thinking pose. "I don't...I don't mean to." He finally admitted to the blonde, who just stood in front of the kitchen bar, looking at the distressed duck-butt. Naruto smiled.

"I think somebody's in loo-oove!" he grinned, sitting down next to the raven haired Uchiha.

"I…" he was about to protest and say that he wasn't in love, but then again, how would he know? _I don't remember what it's like to love…how would I know it if it hit me in the face?_ "I don't know," he said in a voice so quiet that it rivaled Hinata's.

"What'd you say?" the blonde asked.

"I said I don't know!" the distressed teen lashed out, the thought of falling in love quite ruining his pride.

"How can you not know if you're in love or not?" The blonde raised a speculative eyebrow.

"Try living a life full of hate and you'll understand, dobe." Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"No thanks. I'd rather not end up in prison stuck under ANBU guard for three months." The kyuubi vessel jabbed. "Or backstab my friends, or train with a freaky pedophile, or—"

Sasuke went to punch the blonde, but missed, as the future hokage dogged it easily, "Really, I take pity on you, but now that you've got the chance to make up for the past, do something right for once." He said, standing up. "Who knows, you might win her over after all."

"Hn." Sasuke looked away, unsure if that's what he really wanted or not. _When the hell did he get so wise anyways?_

"Whatever, teme." He waved the thought away with his hand as he walked towards the door, "It's your decision, but you better not make me chase after your sorry ass to valley of the end again." He smirked, hand on the door.

"Oh, by the way," Sasuke stood up, walking past the kitchen to the door, "The place we fought…it was a historic battle site between Madara and the Senju Hashirama."

"Who the hell is that?" the blonde asked.

Sasuke nearly fell over, "Senju Hashirama? The first hokage? The second Hokage's older brother? Don't you think the future hokage should know this?" he raised a skeptical eyebrow at the blonde.

"Heheh, I think I fell asleep during that lecture…" the nine-tailed vessel rubbed his head sheepishly, "But that's interesting to know." His gaze finally fell stern after a couple of seconds of staring at the floor, "Let's hope it never happens again." He said quietly before walking out the door and shutting it behind him.

And for the first time in his life, Sasuke agreed.

* * *

RA: I appreciate everyone that has stayed on board. I'm going to be honest—when one of my best reviewers told me she didn't want to follow the story anymore because of the direction it was taking, I was crushed. I thought to myself, "maybe I'm not a good writer, maybe I'm just as mediocre as I was when I first joined." But then I realized something. When I write, it's not just for you guys, but I do because I enjoy it. I enjoy coming up with a plot and creating something that's unique and special to who I am. When I thought about going back and changing the story, I realized that at that point, my story would become a tool to impress people, and not to express myself as a writer. So as a result, I'm going to keep writing not for the reviews or the hits, but for the love of fan fiction and writing.

So I guess as a note from the author, I'd like to leave you with this quote, which has become my life motto upon entering my senior year of high school:

"_Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish."_

_-John Jakes_


	11. Bitterness

**Chapter 10: Bitterness  
**

**

* * *

**Up ahead at the main gates, Naruto was the first to arrive for their mission, leaning against the large wooden beam that supported the doors of the village. Sasuke had to question himself, wondering how much of the dobe's life had he missed—as the blonde looked out at the long road ahead of them, he wore the face of a hardened shinobi; Naruto seemed different now, no longer the hyperactive, obnoxious dork he used to be. In fact, he had also grown to be quite handsome, which made Sasuke wary when it came to Naruto's long standing affection for Sakura.

"Oi, baka. Rare for you to be early," Sasuke actually commented, causing the blonde to break out of his trance.

"The sooner we meet, the sooner we can rescue Sakura." Naruto explained quietly, and Sasuke could hear the sour anger in his words, despite his calm demeanor. He seemed to be a lot angrier than he had been last night, though knowing the blonde, he had probably only been covering up his emotions the night before in order to figure out what the hell had happened while he had been gone.

"Hn." Sasuke nodded then looked away from the blonde. A tense, awkward silence fell between the two for a minute or so, until Sasuke decided to take his place against the opposite support beam. Their arms were both crossed, looking out at the road, wordlessly quarreling with the other.

"Now you'll know how it feels, Teme." Naruto finally verbalized his feelings, his voice lowered—a mix between a growl of hurt and anger—and shaking from the pent up emotions.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sasuke jabbed back.

"You should know damn well!" The blonde shouted, clenching his fists at his side. "Now you'll know how it felt, every time we went out to search for you in hopes of bring you back." He paused, trying collect his words, his tone returning to a low, shaking growl, "Now you understand what it's like to look down this road, wondering if you'll return back with your mission a success…" he turned to Sasuke, "or just another failure."

"I had to do what I had to do." Sasuke met his gaze calmly, though the Uchiha couldn't help but feel his gut clench. The way Naruto's saddened, angry blue eyes looked at him like that… "I told you not to follow me. It's not my fault that you did anyways."

_Those eyes reminded him of that day. _

"Leaving you was not an option, teme! It never was!" The blonde marched over to grab the raven haired teen by the collar, "Just like leaving Sakura to the hands of akatsuki is not an option either!" Naruto sliced the air at his side with his other hand in a declarative gesture. He glared into black orbs, and for once, saw that his words had gotten through.

Sasuke honestly had never thought of it that way. Back then, he had been the Sakura in this position, and for once, he agreed with Naruto. He couldn't imagine turning his back on the pink haired girl, however as much of a nuisance she had been in their younger days, or even if he didn't love her. If Tsuande had suggested that they let her go and forbid them from going after Sakura, he would have raised a fit, with Naruto most definitely right beside him. _So that's what it was like for them when I left…_

Sasuke looked down to the side as Naruto released his shirt and backed away some. He knew he needed to say it, but it wasn't something Sasuke ever thought he would say. No, Uchiha's were proud and were never guilty or wrong. Yet, here he was, Uchiha Sasuke, shame-faced and sullen. "I'm sorry." He had said it so quietly that the blonde had only heard the last syllable.

"What?" Naruto wasn't sure if he had heard him correctly. Was Sasuke _apologizing?!_

The raven haired teen rolled his eyes, "Don't make me say it again!"

That was all that Naruto needed to hear. He had to let out all the feelings he had been collecting over the years, or else he knew they'd hinder his mission. Naruto reached out his arms wide for a hug, but was met with a flat palm to his chest.

"No." Sasuke glared.

Two coal black eyes observed the scene before approaching with an awkward amiable smile. Presently, he was nervous about the mission. He remembered the way those red spinning eyes had pierced the core of him he never even knew existed. He was calculating how to best approach the almighty Uchiha.

"Ah, I see you two are bonding!" He smiled his usual fake, crease-eyed smile. Sasuke had come to wonder if Kakashi had been the influence behind it.

Naruto hit the kid on the back of his inky black head, "Iie! Sai! Don't say weird things like that!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Was this Sai kid mentally retarded or something? He was about to speak when Naruto interrupted him. "Wait, sasuke, let me explain." He pulled the raven haired teen around and whispered in as hush a voice he could make. Naruto tried to explain to him in brief what they had learned about Sai's days in ROOT to make Sasuke understand the ink user a little better.

Well he was somewhat right. The boy was challenged. Naruto guided themselves back over to Sai, who looked down with a gloomy gaze. "Oi, Sai, what's wrong?"

"Well, I just read in this book that when people whisper and look at you, that means they're usually saying bad things about you, and…" the boy looked up and Sasuke seriously thought he was giving them the puppy dog pout, "it means they don't like you."

Naruto sighed, "Not at all. seriously, stop reading those books. You'll learn more from experience than words."

"Of course you'd say that. It's an excuse for why you did so poorly at the academy." Sasuke smirked. He turned to the ink user, "We've met, although, under the conditions…I think it's proper that we have a more civil introduction."

"tch, yeah, one where you don't try to kill or insult him is a good start. Or me." Naruto crossed his arms.

Sasuke wanted to roll his eyes. Obviously his oldest teammate wasn't going to let him live down his past transgressions. "If I had acted any weaker, you would have thought I didn't stand a chance against Orochimaru. I was only reassuring you." He excused himself to the blonde, then gave his hand out towards Sai, "Sasuke." He simply stated his name for the simple, brief, and minimal conversational style of his personality.

"I am Sai. It's a pleasure to meet you…" The smile on his face was one of the falsest smiles Naruto had ever seen, and at that moment, the blonde realized what was about to transpire. He immediately clamped his hand over the ink user's mouth as he was about to speak.

"Don't use nicknames with him." Naruto warned quietly, "not if you value your life."

Sasuke watched with mild amusement as his replacement looked at him with fear. Naruto sighed, wondering if they were going to make it the whole trip without Sai saying something stupid or getting into a fight with Sasuke. It was evident that Sasuke had yet to accept him as a friend yet, which made him laugh. Konohamaru had better never pull that "Otoko no Ko Doushi" jutsu—also dubbed as "fanservice-for-Sakura" jutsu—again, at least not in front of either two.

Team 7 was definitely a patchwork cell at best. While Team 8 was an incredibly close tight-knit cell from their family connections and, as of recently, the death of their sensei…Team 7 was a worn, hand knitted blanket. The threads were coming undone places in the middle, along the edges, and some threads were loose. Yet, in light of it all, it was the sentimental value which kept it from being tossed away.

Yamato arrived just minutes after Sai, thus enveloping the team in an even more awkward silence. Sasuke wasn't going to apologize to everyone…he simply couldn't. Even if he tried to get the words out of his mouth, there was no way they would come out. What he had said to Naruto was a rare, one time event, awarded simply because of their long history and friendship. That, and it was an apology long over-due.

Waiting at Konoha's main gates, the last team member to arrive was, of course, the silver haired jounin Hatake Kakashi.

"You're late, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto burst out in annoyance at the man's slow mannerisms.

"Oh. So it seems I am. My bad." Kakashi chuckled, scratching the back of his head as he tucked away the orange bouok.

"Some things never change…" Sasuke murmured to himself, though Sai caught his comment and smiled awkwardly at the broody teen. Sasuke simply glared back.

"Well, Shall we be going?" Kakashi nodded towards the horizon and they all began to walk down the main road. They would be walking for another 3 miles or so before they hit dense forest, with several directions to go.

"Where are we going, exactly?" Naruto asked

"Sasuke?" Kakashi transferred the question to the only one who knew the answer.

"Amegakure." Sasuke replied simply.

"Ame…" Naruto's voice wavered, "that's where Ero-senin…"

"It's akatsuki's base." Kakashi interrupted. "Is it really smart to waltz right into there?"

"It's where I'll find Madara. You guys stay out of there. I'll deal with Madara."

"Oh no no no." Naruto stepped in, "We already know that he wants _you._ You're just going to hand yourself up on a silver platter…_again?_"

Sasuke glared, "This time it's different. I don't want Sakura to get hurt, and if we try to attack them, she could be hurt, or worse, killed. Amegakure has an almost fail-proof way of detecting invaders. Their leader sends rain on the village and by that, they can sense the chakra of who is an intruder and who isn't. They'll recognize you guys right away. I've been there before, so my chakra won't set off alarms in the village."

"That means you're expecting to exchange yourself for Sakura then, right?" Kakashi asked.

"As of right now, yes. I'll find a way to escape once I know she's safe." Sasuke explained.

"How do we know this isn't a planned trap you set up with Madara?" Yamato finally spoke up, "You make us think that he kidnapped her so you can get out of prison and reunite with Madara."

Sasuke glared at the brown-haired earth-user. "Because I have undergone many interrogations to prove that I have no desire to follow Madara's plans. Yes, he wants to revive the clan, but…he also wants the head of a Senju because he felt entitled to Hokage, meaning…"

"Tsunade-sama" Yamato finished.

"I have no desire to stir up trouble in Konoha." Sasuke explained plainly, calmly. "I'm not working with him, and I would stake my life in order to get Sakura back." The rest of the group took his words to be true, though Yamato remained suspicious. That is, until Sasuke suggested something that would seem to strengthen their trust. "I do have someone that I can take with me. My former teammate. He can manipulate water so his chakra is undetectable--I'll have him go with me in order to increase my chances of coming back."

Naruto glared, "Oh right, the team you were with when you killed the 8-tails. Sure, lets put him right on our team. Maybe you guys can kill me too while you're at it."

Sasuke glared back, "We didn't kill him."

"What?" Naruto asked angrily, "We know it was you, the raikage told us they spotted your group with the hachibi."

"We knocked him unconscious, but we didn't kill him."

"Yet you handed him over to Akatsuki anyways…" Naruto growled, the rest of the team simply watching their interaction.

"Before I fought him, I spoke with the same fortune teller that told me Sakura was pregnant. She told me that as long as I was the one to fight him, he would survive and escape Akatsuki. I realized why when I fought him—he is connected to his bijuu and can control it." Naruto gaped slightly, watching the Uchiha walk calmly ahead of him, "And, if it had been any one else that had gone after that guy, he would have died for sure."

"So you were protecting him by fighting him…" Kakashi stepped in.

"Him..." Sasuke turned his head over his shoulder to look at Naruto, "and you."

The blonde stopped walking, causing the others to pause and look at the back that began to grow further and further away from him. Sasuke continued walking. The blonde's voice quivered, "Why?" he asked quietly, "You were going to kill me at Orchimaru's…"

"It was a test." Sasuke replied simply.

"A test?"

Sasuke kept walking, "A test to see if your new teammates were fit for the job."

Sai and Yamato's eyes widened at the response. It was true—Sai had stepped in the way to block Sasuke's sword, and Yamato had protected Sakura.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. _Seemingly evil deeds with honorable ulterior motives…Just like Itachi…they're definitely brothers beyond a shadow of a doubt…_

Sasuke turned around to face the immobile group. "Lets go. Sakura is waiting for us." Naruto nodded then ran to catch up to him eagerly, the tails of his headband flying in the air behind him.

_Pervy sage…you were wrong. Sasuke isn't of the same cloth as Orochimaru. They're different…Sasuke still cares for me. _ Naruto thought to himself as he walked happily alongside the former missing-nin.

"Sasuke, maybe we should visit the fortune teller—she might be able to tell us where your partner is." Kakashi offered, nearly reading Sasuke's mind. The raven haired teen had no way of knowing where his former partner had gone.

"That's what I was thinking." Sasuke nodded.

"Sheesh, teme. She seems to know a lot. It's interesting that you didn't kill her." Naruto joked.

"I don't kill innocent people." Sasuke stated plainly. "I'm not my brother."

The conversation fell silent, with the unanimous agreement that they would travel to the fortune teller to find Suigetsu. As Kakashi listened to their banter, he picked up on that word again. _Brother…not "that man"…could it be…_ The silver haired jounin narrowed his eyes. _He seems to have changed, or yet, stayed the same, but I'll have to keep an eye on him.

* * *

_

It was a night and a day later before patchwork Team 7 managed to arrive at the wooden door of the fortune teller. Sasuke looked around the porch they stood on and gazed absentmindedly at the wall…that same wall he had pressed up against Sakura and tasted her mouth deliciously against his. He could have sworn he smelled the same soft scent of her skin tickle his olfactory senses, heightening the episodic memory which played out like a movie in his mind.

The door opened and the same blonde-haired fortune teller peeked her head out. "kusagakure." She stated plainly, blinking a few times.

"Excuse me?" Kakashi asked.

"You're looking for Suigetsu and Karin. They're in kusagakure."

"Sugoi! That's so cool!" Naruto exclaimed, "You knew we were coming and why! You really are a fortune teller!"

She nodded, "kekki genkai." Arisa stated, pointing to her head.

"I assumed that to be the case. The best ones usually by bloodline limit." Kakashi mused.

"Arisa, do you know where in Kusa they are?" Sasuke finally spoke up,

"They're seeking refuge in the sosetsu monastery right now. They did have an elaborate camp set up in the forest, but neighboring rains from Amegakure completely washed them out and flooded everything."

Kakashi frowned, "Kusagakure, you said?"

"Hai…" she looked at the masked ninja and smiled, "Be glad that your students did not have to learn the lesson you did the hard way."

"huh?" he asked, a little shocked at her accuracy.

"Obito would be proud." She smiled warmly, and he nodded.

"Well, I think we should be on our way. Will they be there in a few days?" Kakashi asked.

"for five more days." She nodded, "You should have time to reach them."

Sasuke frowned, "Why didn't you tell me that this would happen?" he asked rather harshly.

"No point in worrying over something you can't change." Arisa shrugged. "You would have driven yourself crazy, worrying that she was going to be taken away, and perhaps would have made the situation worse." She chuckled, "I can't tell you _everything_ I know…it's impossible to. And as a fortune teller, you have to be careful with what information you give out and what you keep secret."

"Oi, oi! Fortune-teller-sama, can I ask you a question?" Naruto spoke up, eyes sparkling like a child being handed a candy bar. "Will I become Hokage?"

Arisa laughed, "why are you asking me something you already know?"

"Yatta!" he grinned, pumping his fist into the air, "I knew it!"

"Now," she began, "Don't let it get to your head, because that can ruin your chances."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. The kid really hadn't changed as much as he seemed, though, admittedly, he was a little pleased with this. He couldn't imagine Naruto being any other way—any less loud, any less annoying, any less unpredictable.

"What about Sakura's condition—how does she fare right now?" Yamato finally spoke up.

Arisa sighed, opening the door wide, "I can see this is going to take some time. Why don't you all come in?" she invited, and the five shinobi filed in one by one through the small door frame.

They sat around her table, Sasuke sitting in the same place he did before, recognizing the amber and vanilla incense immediately. This was now his third visit to fortune teller—after meeting her the first time, she told him to pretend like he didn't know her the next time he met her, though he still had yet to figure out why.

"Madara tricked Sakura—I'm sure you all know that by now, right?" Arisa explained.

"Hai. He used a transformation jutsu to act like me and had her fall in love with me, right?" Naruto explained, his words coming out slightly boastful.

"Pretty much. The groundwork was already set, though, so it wasn't hard…" she said, looking over at Sasuke knowingly. "I warned you against this…"

Sasuke glared, "Well what's done is done. How is she now?"

"Madara actually tricked her twice. He told her that they needed her—in reality, they just wanted to capture her to lure you two out." She explained, looking at both Sasuke and Naruto this time.

"Me?" Naruto asked

"Because you possess the 9-tails that they're after. They knew by taking Sakura it would be an effective way to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak."

"So because they don't need her…is she…" Sai spoke up, trailing off his words with worry.

"Don't worry. They're taking care of her. She's not being tortured or anything." Arisa assured them, "however, she is their prisoner, so she is being locked up."

"You seem more like a psychic than a fortune teller." Kakashi mused.

"I saw it in her future when I talked to her. To be quite honest, I'm only guessing that things have gone exactly the same and nothing has changed. The fact that Madara's kidnapped her gives me faith that these events are playing out exactly as I predicted."

"So it's not one hundred percent…?" Yamato asked, remaining skeptical of the fortune teller.

"I predicted Sakura's pregnancy, did I not? I knew you were coming here and I knew what you were going to ask before you even stepped onto my door. I can see into people's pasts as well as their future, and I can tell the life story of every single one of you."

"She's right. She knew about what happened to Obito in Kusagakure." Kakashi nodded to Yamato, who instantly believed the fortune teller thanks to the silver haired jounin.

"From what you're telling me, everything has happened as I've predicted it so far…I have one definite way to figure out if she's safe, but it's going to reveal everything…even personal…" she blushed, "daily needs."

"Eh, what do you mean?" Naruto spoke up, completely oblivious.

"I do a seal, place it on a mirror, and from then on, I can watch everything that's happened in the past 24 hours to the present, but it's going to show even when she's undressing, using the bathroom, et cetera." She rubbed her head sheepishly, "and seeing as you're all men, and her teammates no less…I think it would probably be best if only one of you saw this."

She stood up, "I'll go start the process in the other room. Come in when you decide on someone." The blonde fortune teller stepped into the other room, leaving the rest to delegate over who should see it.

However, before they could discuss, Sasuke immediately stood up, all eyes of the other teammates staring at him. "Sasuke, you're going to?" Naruto asked.

"Well I'm the only one who's seen her completely." He stated non-chalantly. Big mistake—Naruto jumped up from his seat at those words to deliver a right hook to the flawless face.

"What the fuck, dobe?" He spat. Rubbing his cheek, he glared at the blonde, who looked half satisfied, half pissed.

"You don't just…say it like that! Say it like it at least meant something to you!" The blonde glared at him fiercely, "Don't be so casual about it!"

Sasuke did nothing to counter this. What could he say? It hadn't meant anything, and he wasn't going to deny it, yet it wasn't ready to admit it either. Turning away from the blonde, he walked into the other room wordlessly.

"Naruto." Kakashi summoned the blonde to return to the table, in which he did so begrudgingly.

"I don't get it… doesn't he see how much he hurt her?" the orange clad ninja sighed and he plopped down onto a red pillow.

"He's already dealing with it." Kakashi shrugged, "He knows he's responsible for her leaving."

Naruto looked down at the table, "It's just…he's never acted like he really cared about her."

"That's not true." Kakashi spoke up. "When Gaara was about to crush her with his sand, Sasuke did everything he could to stop him. After the chunin exams, Sakura told me that the sight of her beaten up by the sound ninja caused the seal to flare up, and that he broke the arms of the one who beat her." Kakashi raised a finger. "You know how he is about apologizing."

"He apologized to me yesterday!" Naruto's arms flew up in the air

"And you're the first one to hear an apology from him." Kakashi explained.

"Well he should have saved it then. Shoulda said it to Sakura-chan instead." Naruto muttered bitterly.

"Um...ano…I think it's like this." Sai interrupted meekly, his eyes nervously tracing the swirling wood grain of the table, "Sasuke-kun is a very proud person. And his clan shares the same views as ROOT…that emotions are a weakness. My guess is that he has a hard time expressing how he feels…" Sai looked up at the group, "I don't understand him much, but I understand what he's going through in that respect."

"Also to consider is all that he went through as a kid." Kakashi nodded.

Naruto snapped his head over to the silver-haired jounin, "I know that! But I suffered just as much as a kid and I'm not a jerk to my friends, especially when they need me the most."

"Calm down, Naruto. We don't condone his behavior, we're simply trying to explain it. You said you didn't get why he acts like that towards Sakura."

"Sad childhood or not, he has no right treating Sakura-chan the way he does." Naruto slammed his fist on the table, causing the tea in their ceramic cups to slosh from side to side. They watched the candles in the gold-plated centerpiece flicker delicately, providing a dim light to the otherwise dark room.

* * *

ReA: Yeah! You tell 'em, Naruto!

Hell yeah! Friday was my last day of high school, and I graduate on Tuesday. So that means you can expect me to start updating this again. Shannaro! Go class of 09!


	12. Where She Belongs

**Chapter 11: Where She Belongs**

**x-x-x  
**

Whether or not the outcome was dire, Sasuke didn't care. Watching the girl in the hands of the enemy caused the black haired teen to have an epiphany. He would never see the world through Itachi's eyes, but suddenly, he understood his brother.

That is, in believing Madara's story. And when looking back on the piggy back rides, the teasing-yet-loving forehead pokes, and that promise…that even as an obstacle for Sasuke to overcome, Itachi would always be there for him…Sasuke had no choice but to believe Madara. Yet even in realizing this, the sight of the captive pink haired girl from his childhood eliminated all feelings of revenge on the people who sealed his brother's fate.

Because in the end, he could have let Itachi live and given up on his revenge. He could have avoided this with Sakrua. He could have had a life not of loneliness, but of love and friendship. Kakashi warned him years ago that exacting revenge would only lead to more pain. His friends inspired him to think of a happier future, one where Naruto could take the place of his brother, and Sakura would love him unconditionally, like a mother. Kakashi had already served as a second father figure, much more of a father than his own had ever been. But he gave it all away for one impulsive and misdirected path towards bitterness and hate.

When the images stopped flashing on the mirror, Sasuke turned to face the doorway. Some time ago, he had noted Naruto's presence leaning on the door frame to the bedroom. The blonde had his arms folded across his chest, gazing at Sasuke with a serious, calculating look.

"So are you done running from them?" Arisa murmured quietly, being scarily accurate in assessing Sasuke's thoughts.

"Almost." Sasuke nodded then turned to look at the kyuubi jinchurki in the doorway.

"How is she?" Naruto asked, not hearing the previous exchange of words.

"Sakura's fine, just captive. I'm surprised that with Akatsuki being so brutal that she's as fine as she is." Sasuke mused, "They must want me back pretty badly."

They stood in silence as Arisa excused herself out of the room. The tension hung so thick that hardly Asuma's chakra knives could have cut through it.

"Do you really feel nothing for her?" Naruto prodded, arms still folded in front of him.

Sasuke let out an irritated sigh and looked down at the mirror, "I don't know." _I wouldn't know love if it hit me in the face._

"Well, is she even _important _to you?" Naruto asked angrily.

"Of course! I wouldn't be on this mission if she wasn't!" Sasuke spat. It was the first time Naruto had ever seen him the least bit flustered on the topic of the pink haired girl.

"What would you do if she died? What if Akatsuki killed her? What would you do, Teme!?" Naruto yelled, clenching his fists by his sides as his voice steadily increased.

Sasuke hadn't considered the bubble gum haired kunoichi ever dying. A life without her…what would he do? What would happen if he found her bleeding to death in Akatsuki's prison? Simple.

"I'd kill those bastards." Sasuke looked away.

Naruto relaxed. "That's good to hear. So you do love her."

"What? No! I…I don't…" The raven haired boy snapped his head over to look at the grinning idiot. For some reason he couldn't say the words.

"We all know that the last group of people you avenged meant a hell of a lot to you. If you would avenge Sakura too, well, for you? That says something." Naruto shrugged, "Maybe you don't love her in a romantic way, but she is one of your precious people."

Ever since he had come back, Sasuke had found himself agreeing with nearly everything that the blonde would say. Either Naruto had grown up, or Sasuke had grown down. His pride couldn't figure out which one was the lesser of two evils.

Sasuke sighed, "Your point, dobe?"

"Just making sure that I wouldn't have to kill you." The blonde smirked, "If you had taken her without having any feelings for her, I would have had to kick your ass so bad."

The raven haired teen smirked, "Hn. As if you could even lay a finger on me."

One blonde eyebrow quirked upwards, "heh, is that a challenge, teme? You know, we've both gotten a lot stronger, and we're long overdue for a spar."

* * *

Sasuke's smirked, a calculating yet determined look contorting his features, "I think we can arrange that."

"What? What do you mean?!" A shrill voice rang through the wooden room.

"Yeah, Sasuke. Where do your loyalties lie?" another growled, "You said you'd come back, but you never told us when, and now we're supposed to join up with your old team?"

Sasuke remained calm and disinterested as the last two of team Taka sat facing him.

"Karin, you don't have to come if you don't want to. But I need Suigetsu." He turned to the said shinobi, "You do want to get your precious swords, don't you?"

Karin and Suigetsu both looked away, but Suigetsu was the first to speak. "What happens after? Is Taka disbanded after this?"

When Sasuke looked at Suigetsu, he could see that same hurt and anger, which had sparkled in the blue eyes of his other teammate.

"You do remember you both agreed to follow me because you all had something to do along the way towards my mission. I never said we would be teammates forever." Sasuke explained. He knew he was avoiding the answer but he didn't want to say 'yes'.

"So we are disbanded, then." Suigetsu looked away from Sasuke, down at the floor.

"Then why should we follow you?" Karin snapped. "If we're no longer a team then you're no longer the leader."

"What else have you to do? As far as I'm concerned, you only wanted to join Hebi to join me." Sasuke said, directing his attention to the redhead, "And if you were to go with me, Suigetsu, you may have an opportunity to get the samehada."

Suigetsu ran his hand over his chin in thought, then looked up at Karin who was gazing at him with uncertainty. Sasuke could tell that the two had gotten closer, simply by the fact that they were thinking about this _together_. He should have known, at the very beginning, that there was chemistry; a spark that started out as embers of rivalry and teasing grew into friendship and…perhaps something more?

"I'll go if she can come with us." Suigetsu explained.

Sasuke let out a sigh, "Fine. But you have to work with the team from Konoha as well."

"Fair enough." Suigetsu stood up, looking at the still uncertain Karin, "what are you worried about?

"We're on Konoha's bingo list. Who's to say they won't wipe us out once they're done with us?" Karin looked at Sasuke warily.

"That'd require you going back with me to Konoha after the mission. You're free to go once we get Sakura back."

The redhead visibly relaxed her shoulders and then looked over at the silver-haired mist-nin. "Just curious, Sasuke," Suigetsu bent down, gathering his belongings as he readied himself to leave, "are you going after her because she's bearing your child? Or is it something more?" Sasuke remained silent, an icy gaze piercing into the back of the man who spoke to him. "Just wondering. Seems to me, if she left you, she's better off that way. It's not like you two had a healthy relationship."

Sasuke walked toward the exit, slid the shogi screen open and paused, "I'll be waiting for you at the entrance. Be ready to leave in ten minutes." he snapped as he exited, slamming the sliding door shut behind him.

"Oh yeah. I hit a nerve alright." Suigetsu mumbled to Karin, who was beginning to pick up her belongings as well.

"Sounds to me like he's not comfortable with how he's feeling."

"Yeah, that much is obvious. If he just wanted the child, he would have said it. He's not afraid of coming off as a jackass." Suigetsu mused as he rolled up his sleeping mat.

"But he's afraid of coming off as weak." Karin stood up with her bag over her shoulders.

"That…" Suigetsu stood up, picking the rolled mat with him, "and he's so used to hating everything and anything around him that he doesn't know how to deal with love. He's afraid of it because he doesn't know how to use it." the silver haired water-nin placed the mat in the closet and shut the door.

Karin was silent as she looked out the window. From where their room was placed, she had a perfectly good view of the entrance, where the rest of the team from Konoha stood. "People have loved him, but he's never loved anyone else…" she trailed off her words, her thought voicing the rest. _And the one person he truly loved hurt him, so he killed him. But then he learned that Itachi loved him all along, and now he's left with regret…its almost like the same thing is happening all over again._

"You ready?" Suigetsu spoke, waking her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah." She nodded, walking with him out of the room. She took his hand and gripped it gently, then let it go.

And without words, Suigetsu understood exactly what this meant.

* * *

When the two teams met, it had been much more peaceful than Sasuke had dared hope. Staying together with Suigetsu had calmed Karin down quite a bit. He wasn't sure if this had to do with patience she was forced to learn by staying with him, or if it was contentment with their relationship that kept her at peace.

Just as Naruto was about to ask why Karin was joining them, Sasuke predicted the question and answered him. If he had to be totally honest, the whole situation was weird. The last time they were together, the group had been fighting each other. Now they were working together peacefully, and he couldn't help but feel a little relaxed…content.

_Happiness…is this it?_

After setting off through the trees, the large group was brought to a standstill when Karin announced that she could sense chakra in the distance.

"Hinata." Kakashi commanded with just her name, and she understood.

"Hai. Byakugan!" she near-whispered and searched the area with her mysterious, pale eyes. "Its an akatsuki!" she exclaimed, her high pitched voice making it sound like a yelp. "his chakra system isn't like others…it's almost...invisible!"

"Does that mean he's dying?" Sai asked.

"No, I would still be able to see the flow." She focused in closer, "wait…he's…he's the same guy as before! It's Madara!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as the mere thought of his distant relative disgusted him.

A simple hand gesture from the silver haired jonin had the team dispersing into several different locations. Sasuke stood where he was, out in middle of the murky, foggy land. Charcoal eyes bled red as his sharingan began to spin to life, allowing him to see clearer in such conditions.

Within a few minutes, the onyx-haired teen was confronted by the man in the orange mask. Sasuke knew he was at an advantage, thanks to his beloved nii-san—Madara would be unable to use the sharingan, as Sasuke's own mangekyo would react to it with the black flames of Amaterasu.

"You can summon your pets to come back out." Madara smirked, "I'm not interested in fighting."

"Who said I came with company?" Sasuke asked, calling the man's bluff.

"I can sense at least five different chakra types, if not more. Specifically the kyuubi demon." Madara tilted his head, "you should know that chakra is impossible to mask from us."

"They must have followed me." Sasuke lied easily, "I didn't bring them."

"perhaps we should leave so we will not be interrupted."

"Are you afraid of taking on a few Konoha shinobi? You've already taken on three teams at once."

"Aren't you afraid of them taking you back?" Madara retorted. Just then, Naruto jumped off the branch he was on to deliver a right hook to Sasuke's face. Sasuke, however, sensing the attack, caught Naruto's fist right before it hit his face and threw the blonde to the side.

"Not one bit." Sasuke's stoic demeanor remained completely unchanged through the whole ordeal.

"Teme…" Naruto growled, wiping the blood that had began to leak out of his cheek and then charged at the younger Uchiha again, drawing a kunai from his sleeve. Sasuke countered it by stabbing the orange-clad ninja, which revealed itself to be a kage-bushin. He turned just in time to kick the real Naruto out of the way from behind him, sending the teen flying once again.

Just then, Karin jumped down from the trees to join Sasuke and Madara.

"Where's Suigetsu?" Madara asked.

"He didn't want to go. He said he's close to getting some other sword." Sasuke explained

Turning to Naruto, Madara smirked, "You know…Why don't you bring him along?". The ice-prince nodded, turning his eyes on his former teammate.

Inside of the fox demon's prison, Sasuke found Madara already waiting, conversing with the nine-tails.

"I see you've met your predecessor, sassssuke." The kyuubi drawled, seemingly amused by the scene going on.

"Why don't you do the honors, Sasuke." Madara smirked under his mask.

"It's time to sleep, kyuubi." Sasuke stated coldly, eyes commanding the fox to do as he wanted. The beast let out a low growl as it succumbed to the unconscious.

Madara turned to Sasuke, "Well done. Lets get out of here." He nodded before vanishing. After he had disappeared, Naruto ran out of the shadows of the cellar.

"Wait, Sasuke." He grabbed the said ninja's sleeve.

"Yeah?"

"Just so you know, I was holding back." The blonde grinned.

Sasuke smirked before disappearing, "That better have been the case."

Back in the world of the living, the blonde ninja began to fall down, unconscious, but the younger Uchiha caught him before he hit the ground. Slinging the deadweight over his shoulders, he nodded to his team to take off into the forest, leaving the rest of the Konoha shinobi behind.

About a mile off in the distance, Hinata turned to Kakashi.

"They're moving away now." She explained, having watched the scene with her byakugan.

"Lets go." Kakashi commanded, and the set of ninja took off, making sure to mask their chakra.

* * *

As they arrived in Amegakure, Madara led the way. The darkened skies and pouring rain caused a shiver to roll down Sasuke's spine, though he didn't show it. It reminded him of misery, of pain, of finding out the truth about Itachi. It reminded him of the mess he had made of his life and the loneliness that followed.

People called him cold, called him unemotional, and chastised him for the decisions he made. But he couldn't help but feel that he had just been dealt a shitty hand. He had just been born in the most cursed clan, inherited a brother who killed his family, happened to run into Orochimaru at the chunin exam, just happened to be friends with Naruto, who just happened to be the one Itachi was after, only to be reminded of the pain, sorrow and weakness in his heart…and, after all this, people had the audacity to criticize the person he became.

Part of him didn't feel bad. Part of him wanted to tell all his critics, "what the fuck would you do?"

While Naruto admittedly was his only close friend, the blond teen's happy go lucky attitude was not only irritating, but in a way, Sasuke felt like it was a punch in the face. Naruto went through just as much, though not the same kind of trauma, yet he was much stronger and able to get past it and stay optimistic. Sasuke? He couldn't do it. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't put away the pain of the past and it followed him like a shadow—and these forces which all came together to work against him seemed to mold the person he became.

Because he was Uchiha, he didn't show emotion or genuinely smile. Because he had his family killed, he wanted revenge. Because he wasn't strong enough to get revenge, he wanted to get stronger. Because Orochimaru came to him and offered to make him stronger, he took the opportunity. Because Orochimaru taught him, he became heartless. And it just so happened that when you're heartless, you don't genuinely smile, and when you don't smile, it's hard to find your way out of an oppressing situation, and thus, the situation won. No matter what, he was weaker than the life he was given.

It was a weakness that he was all too aware of when the blonde idiot smiled. He was almost afraid to smile, afraid to laugh, because of the ridicule and the shocked expressions he'd get from those who knew him. And because he was so used to frowning, nothing seemed funny or amusing enough to him—It was as if he didn't know how to smile. His life was about pain, about misery, about revenge. It wasn't about living life to the fullest, it wasn't about protecting his precious people, it wasn't about promoting peace. For gods sakes, he just wanted something to make him smile.

* * *

The team from Konoha met with Suigetsu up ahead. The silver haired mist-nin nodded, before disappearing beyond the misty border between Amegakure and a neighboring nation. They watched as he fell to the ground as a puddle of water, moving its way across the surface of the ground. After the group was out of sight, he continued on into a large body of water that separated the village from the border like a moat.

His puddle form slowly crept out onto the soggy shore and across the street to a familiar, towering building. It was Akatsuki's base, and the one time he had been there had been enough to give him at least some sort of direction. He maintained his puddle-form, moving fast up the walls of the building until he could find an opening of any kind.

Finally finding a way in through an air-shaft, Suigetsu could no longer remain a puddle, for the dry atmosphere would evaporate him. The air shaft proved large enough for him to crawl through, and he returned to human form in a crouching position.

He spotted his exit as light filled the tunnel through a vent in the ceiling. He heard voices passing below, one that sounded very much like Madara's, though he couldn't be sure. As the voices faded, Suigetsu carefully opened the vent, peering down the hallway it opened into, and found it to be empty. Lowering himself out of the vent, he let himself drop down, extending his arm with chakra to close the vent.

"Couldn't use the front door?" a sultry female voice caused him to jump.

He turned around to see the sole female Akatsuki member, Konan, "It's not as fun." He replied with a smirk. "I'm looking for sas—"

"She's gone."

"ke—wait, what?"

"You don't have to play dumb. I could tell Sasuke wasn't here to make amends with Madara. Your suspicious entrance proved my theory correct." Konan folded her arms. "Besides, like I said. Sakura's gone."

"What do you mean, _gone_?"

"She disappeared…" Konan replied, and, seeing the glare Suigetsu was giving her, continued, "on her own. She escaped, somehow."

"oh you've got to be fucking kidding me." Suigetsu slapped his face. Just then, a familiar shrill screeched from around the corner. The end of the hallway lit up in a pale blue light, followed by a loud explosion. The silver haired mist-nin ran around the corner to see Sasuke and Karin jump out of a hole in the wall, onto the top of another nearby building. Madara was gazing at him with his one eye, as if daring Suigetsu to move—and he did. With the rain pouring in freely, he rushed past Madara as a large water dragon and onto the building behind Sasuke and Karin. Upon hitting the ground, he returned to human form and continued running behind them

"Where is she?" Sasuke asked as they ran.

"She escaped." Suigetsu explained briefly "Konan told me just before you blew up the place."

"Konan could have been lying." Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"No, I couldn't sense Sakura's chakra either."

"How the hell did a girl like her manage to escape a place like that?!" Suigetsu asked.

Sasuke remained silent, running toward the border. A few Amegakure ninja stood in their way as they crossed the river, but the rain enhanced the power of his chidori.

"Where's Naruto?" Suigetsu asked over the silence.

Karin pointed ahead, and the three of them could see an orange-clad ninja grinning on the shore with a pink haired medic unconscious in his arms.

"That's how she escaped." Sasuke explained.

"Well I'll be damned." Suigetsu muttered.

On the shore stood Naruto bearing a shit-eating grin, "Sorry, the opportunity just struck."

"You're damn lucky Suigetsu blew our cover when he did." Sasuke glared at the silver-haired nin as they took off into the forest.

"Damn, for the first time, I'm not the one who screwed up the mission." Naruto laughed.

"Be careful with her, moron, or you might." Sasuke snapped, noting how the blonde wasn't particularly watching where he was going.

"Wait…" Naruto paused, causing the others to halt as well. He hopped over to the branch Sasuke was on, and handed the unconscious girl to him. "Its better this way." The blonde spoke quietly, in one of those rare serious-naruto moments that unnerved Sasuke to his core.

Sasuke had no choice but to take the girl in his arms. He looked down at the limp figure, slightly heavier than she had been when he took her away from Konoha, so many months ago. The bump in her stomach had swelled enough to notify the world of her pregnancy, but he was, for some weird reason, thankful.

The group set off again, in quiet solace of a perfect moment. While the mission may have gone a little _too _well, it would have been a crime to try and bring up the looming future and ruin the moment.

He would return with her in his arms, and that's all that mattered.

* * *

RA: Well…not my greatest chapter, but hell, I'm horrible at writing fight scenes. I need to watch some Jackie chan…or hey, the Orochimaru vs Sasuke fight is in the process of being animated, so maybe I could get some inspiration there, but honestly…

I'm sorry this took so long to update. I'm also working on a **Suigetsu/Karin oneshot ****that goes along with the story!** I wanted to explain how their relationship has changed so much, but at the same time, I wanted to move this story along. I'll let you all know when I publish it. :]


	13. It's Okay

**Chapter 12: It's Okay**

**x-x-x**

Karin and Suigetsu took off before meeting back with the rest of the group from Konoha. Naruto, Sasuke and the unconscious Sakura were the only ones to be seen coming back from Amegakure, in which Kakashi questioned this as they gathered around the same tree.

"Kakashi…you once told us something, back when we first became a team." Sasuke explained, "that those who abandon their friends are worse than scum." Yamato looked over at the silver haired nin who remained silent. "To bring Suigetsu and Karin back with me would be like abandoning them." Sasuke explained

Sai smiled falsely, "so that means you regret having abandoned Naruto-kun and Sakura-chan?"

Naruto expected Sasuke to deck the ink user, but instead, they were granted a different response. Sasuke sighed. "Yes, Sai. I do." The raven haired Uchiha shifted the weight in his arms and quickly changed the subject, "We need to get back to the village. It looks like she was drugged before we got there."

Conversation tossed to the wind, the Konoha shinobi made haste back towards the village.

* * *

Eyes fluttered open to a warm orange and red light filling her vision. Shifting, Sakura sat up, grasping her head in confusion. Where was she? Last she remembered was being stabbed with a syringe in Akatsuki's prison. She looked around to see ALL of team seven sitting around a fire in a wooden room, with the addition of Shikamaru and Hinata.

"Welcome back." Kakashi stated coolly, but she couldn't hear any disappointment or anger in his words. It seemed that they had set up camp in one of Yamato's ready-made houses, thanks to the artificial bloodline trait of the first hokage.

Sakura looked down. "I'm sorry. I thought I could…" she trailed off, looking up to see Sasuke sitting with the rest of them. Her feelings changed from meek disappointment to vile anger and she suddenly wanted to send his head flying off his body with her fist.

"Sakura, we need to talk." He stated flatly, standing up and reaching out a hand to help her up. _Well this was new. _She thought, considering his gentleman-like gesture. It had seemed that her run-away had made the Uchiha consider how he should have treated her all along.

He opened the door for her to walk through, then followed suit, closing it gently behind him. Sasuke anticipated her to unleash all her anger on him with loud words and explicatives, but instead, she was unnervingly quiet.

"Well, what did you want to talk about?" she bit at him verbally when they were out in the hallway, leaning her left shoulder against the wall.

"Our…feelings. Our thoughts." He explained quietly.

"I think you made it pretty obvious how you felt before I left, and even Sai would be able to figure out that I hate you." She crossed her arms and glared at him devastatingly.

He couldn't place where, why, or how, but Sasuke felt as if something had broken inside him when she said that.

"You don't mean that." He responded calmly.

"I absolutely do." She narrowed her eyes.

"You don't know what it's like to really hate someone." He lowered his voice warningly.

"Oh please, not this again." She rolled her eyes, "can you stop thinking about yourself for once?"

"Sakura." He stated curtly, black eyes piercing hers with the heaviness of the situation. "I'm not doing that." He sighed, and looked away, running his hand through the bangs of his midnight hair in frustration.

"Well what are you doing? Are you trying to make me not hate you? Because you're doing a pretty piss-poor job."

"Look." He nearly exclaimed, suddenly turning to set his hands on her shoulders, "I'm SORRY. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm _sorry._" He looked down, hands sliding off her shoulders to hang by his side.

"Why is it so hard for you to admit that you were wrong?" she crossed her arms, obviously not letting him off easy. Granted, she was surprised by his confession, but she was too angry let it change her mood.

"I don't know. If I knew why, I would change it." he said, looking back at her with sincerity.

Tears began to well up in her eyes, as all the pain he had caused her worked its way to the surface, "Do you understand what you've put me through?" she asked, sniffling as she tried to hold them back from him. "You…you talked about getting revenge on the one who hurt you, the one who ruined your life, and then you run out and do the same thing to the one person who loved you the _most._" A tear finally fell down her right cheek, "give me one good reason why I should forgive you for that."

He remained silent, then hesitantly placed his hand on her stomach, "Because I realize what my priorities are now, and I want to make this work." He explained, his voice quiet and sincere.

She looked away, pleased with his answer but now concerned with a different issue, "But I told you…about Naruto…"

The raven haired teen let out a sigh, removing his hand from the bump of her stomach, "that's the other thing. That wasn't Naruto."

"What, was that was you too?" she sneered, the anger welling back up in her as if his words were oil to a simmering fire.

"No, that was _Madara_. Naruto told me that he'd been on a mission during the time you two were supposedly together."

Sakura's eyes flew open wide as her face contorted into anger, shock and fear. "Oh…oh my god…" her fists clenched, and she turned and punched the wall next to her. "God DAMNIT!" She exclaimed, breathing heavily from the internal anger she finally let out.

Sasuke stood there shocked as she gathered her breath. A few seconds later and Naruto rushed out into the hallway to see what had happened, "Uh, I was sent to make sure no one was getting hurt…"

"Naruto…you're saying…that wasn't you?" she asked, her voice quavering with anger.

Understanding what she was talking about, he shook his head and winced his eyes in a sympathetic look, "No. When Sasuke-teme told me I was as shocked as you are."

"That bastard…" she muttered through clenched teeth, and her green irises sparkled with fury. "Naruto… I need to talk to Sasuke a little more." She explained, the anger in her voice subsiding to a simmer.

The blonde nodded and walked back into the room. Once the door clicked shut, Sakura turned to the Uchiha and locked her gaze onto his.

"I will forgive you…under the condition that you help me kill Madara." She said, the pure determination in her face being unlike anything he had ever seen from the girl before. Once a delicate little cherry blossom that used to chase him around—no matter how crudely he would turn her down—now a fierce shinobi who wouldn't go down quietly and let herself be used by anyone, not even him.

She was no longer weak for him, and it made him want her even more.

* * *

After the last physical, Sakura slid off the medical exam table with much less agility than before. She could finally go home and rest after the long day. Before the exam, she had a long talk with the godaime, in which the elders repeatedly insisted on imprisoning the girl. However, Tsunade had put up a good fight against the two antiques, claiming that Sakura broke the law to protect the village, and should be given a heroes welcome if anything.

Not that Tsunade believed this, knowing that the pink haired medic had also left to get revenge on Sasuke. The sanin was beginning to agree with the elders that the last Uchiha was more of a nuisance than an asset to be keeping in the village. Perhaps they were right. Perhaps she was getting soft.

Although, the pink haired medic kept in mind that it wouldn't be the last talk. It seemed that if Sakura wanted to get back at Madara, she was going to need the Hokage's permission. She and Sasuke were down to their last chances. One more mishap and both could be imprisoned for life, or worse, put to death.

But for the first time, the two had reached a stable point in their relationship. Sasuke worked to gain back her trust, her love, while in turn, she worked on forgiving him and making things go back to the way they were. It was the first time in years that team seven had actually felt like a close family.

Things weren't perfect, though. Sai and Yamato became increasingly distant, with Danzo summoning Sai back to missions with ROOT. After such missions, however, Sai would often come back to talk with team seven about his confusion between the two philosophies. ROOT demanded no emotion, but all he had learned in team seven had taught him otherwise. Kakashi had reassured him that if he were to use his best judgment, he'd be fine. And feeling better, Sai would leave again until another instance like this occurred.

Yamato had remained in the background, but much less a part of social interaction than Kakashi or even Sai. His main duty was to make sure the Kyuubi didn't break out and to help Naruto keep control of it during intense training, but with the lack of action, he wasn't needed much anymore.

In Tsunade's eyes, Sasuke proved his loyalty and was given a "get out of jail free" card when he came back with Sakura by his side, plus the short stock of information Madara gave Sasuke when they met in Amegakure.

"I believe he's planning to attack Konoha, and your life may be in danger, Godaime-sama." Sasuke explained as he stood before the maple desk, "He wants the head of a senju for taking what he believes was his right to the position of hokage. Furthermore…" he lowered his voice, "I have reasons to believe that he's in connection with Danzo, if not Danzo himself."

Tsunade wrinkled her brow in thought, "What would bring you to that conclusion?"

"The uncanny resemblance in their motives, personality, appearance, and also, it makes sense how Madara got into the village undetected in the first place, enough so trick Sakura into thinking he was Naruto. He had to have been watching her and her interaction with Naruto for quite some time."

Tsunade sighed, "But we have no proof that they've even met."

"If we get rid of Madara we'll know for sure." Sasuke offered.

"Easier said than done." She raised an eyebrow at him, then narrowed her eyes, "You have a plan, don't you?"

"There's one way that will work for sure. If I even look at his sharingan, he'll burst into the flames of Amaterasu. But you know how it is when it comes to fighting Akatsuki."

"Only fight when it's two of us against one of them."

"Exactly. Except the only person who knows Madara's techniques inside and out is Itachi…"

Sensing where Sasuke was taking the conversation, she stopped his train of thought, "Absolutely not. I will not permit you to use a forbidden jutsu to revive Itachi."

"Who says it has to be forbidden? I have the instructions for the ritual, surely you and your team of medics could alter it to one that doesn't require a sacrifice."

Tsunade stood up from her desk to look out over Konoha, "Believe me, Sasuke, I've tried. There have been loved ones I wished to bring as well, but you need a complete, living life source to bring back the dead."

"It's the only way we're going to get rid of Madara without any bloodshed."

She turned to look at him curiously, "You're saying that you left everyone behind, gave up your soul and your life to defeat this guy, and now you want to bring him back? How do you even know what Madara said was true? What if he decides to work with Madara to kill you?"

Sasuke looked down. "Because every time I think of who he was before the massacre, I know that it couldn't have all been an act. And right before he died…" Sasuke swallowed hard. He hadn't wanted to bring it up, but it didn't seem that Tsunade would let him do this if he didn't. "I could see the real him returned for just a second." He looked down, ashamed to let his emotions show.

Tsunade was silent. She knew it was true, that Itachi was a good man. But she was forbidden to tell him. "Is this more about using him to help you fight Madara, or about having your brother back?"

Sasuke looked up with his normal stoic demeanor replacing the face of emotions he had just displayed. "To be honest, both. And Sakura wants revenge on him for what happened when he pretended to be Naruto."

Tsunade raised her eyebrows. What happened? Sakura hadn't gone into any detail about the faux relationship that had occurred before her leaving. From the sounds of it, it had been more intimate than the woman had expected.

"Sasuke…what if your brother isn't what you expect? What if he tries to kill you again?"

"I killed him once, I can do it again." Sasuke stated curtly.

"But you'll need someone with chakra control to perform the jutsu. It would put them at risk as well…" Tsunade trailed off. She wanted to go ahead and give him permission, knowing that Itachi was the best man to get rid of Madara, she wasn't about to tell Sasuke the truth.

"I am fully capable of protecting whoever it may be."

"But you just told me, the rule about fighting one of Akatsuki. Itachi is no exception."

"With all due respect, you don't have to hide the truth from me. I can see it in your eyes, you don't see him as a villain." He said calmly, closing his eyes in his normal arrogant manner.

The woman sat back down at her desk, folding her hands in front of her face. She couldn't very well lie, "…I am not allowed to speak on this matter."

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Take it however you want."

"You know he's not a threat."

"…"

"So let me do this. The third knew it, Itachi knew it, I knew it. The only way to fight the sharingan is with another sharingan."

"Then take Kakashi with you as well."

Sasuke scoffed, "Kakashi is strong, but he knows less than I do about Madara's techniques, and he wouldn't be able to use his sharingan to the amount it would be needed in this fight."

"Sasuke, you know I can't approve this mission."

"Then don't. but don't tell the elders, and let us escape at night."

"I can't give you a medic either."

"I'll take Sakura then. She wants to see Madara dead as much as I do."

"What if ANBU or the elders decide to check up on either of you? I can't protect you if they find out."

Sasuke thought a minute, "…Naruto."

"What?" Tsunade asked.

"He has enough stamina to make clones of both me and Sakura for an extended period of time. He can cover for us long enough."

Tsunade sighed—Sasuke was right. She had to cover all the complications, however, before she'd let him even walk out of the room. "You do realize that you'll have to exchange a human life for Itachi…who will you take?"

"I have access to almost all of Orochimaru's old prisons. Some of them contain real foul criminals that are wanted dead by many nations. But none too strong for me to take out, and Saukra can keep them immobilized with her medical knowledge, I'm sure."

Tsunade looked down, hands folded in front of her forehead, "What will you do with Itachi?"

"I can say Madara revived him, but it backfired and Itachi turned on him. We can tell the village the truth about the massacre and he can take all the credit for killing Madrara."

Taking a deep breath and leaning back in her chair, Tsunade stared at Sasuke, "You've obviously thought about this."

The raven haired teen smirked, "I've had time."

The woman picked up a misson report and looked it over as she continued talking, "If you get caught, I can't stand up for you."

"I won't." Sasuke nodded, and turned to leave the office.

"Sasuke?" she called after him.

"Hm?"

"Make sure Sakura is able to perform the jutsu. If it appears to be straining her body too much, you must stop—it could kill the baby if it gets out of hand."

Sasuke paused, silent, "I'll stop her if that's the case."

"Good." Tsunade nodded, and Sasuke walked out silently. Once the door was shut, she set down the mission report and sighed, turning her chair to face the windows. The sunset over Konoha bathed the whole village in a golden light and illuminated the contours of the stone faces of the hokages.

_Sarutobi-sensei…I can only hope that this will be the ending you wished for this clan…

* * *

_

Night began to fall quickly over the village, and Sasuke made haste to the old apartment house where Naruto lived. Upon arriving at his door, he knocked quickly, impatient to leave the village as soon as possible.

"Coming!" the blonde replied from behind the door. Through the peephole, Sasuke could see the light disappear as Naruto looked to see who it was, then reappear as the boy unlocked the door.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked, opening the door for the raven haired Uchiha to step inside. The blonde's face openly betrayed his confusion and surprise at Sasuke visiting him alone at such an hour.

Sasuke walked in, mentally noting with slight disgust at the messiness of the blonde's apartment, yet saying nothing on the matter, "I need a favor."

The blonde looked at him as if he were crazy. "You're asking _me_ for a favor? Hold on, let me savor this moment…" Naruto stood there and closed his eyes in content.

"Save the antics, dobe. I'm serious. I need you to cover for Sakura and I. We're going to revive Itachi so we can take out Madara once and for all."

"Wait, WHAT? Are you insane? What if, what if—"

"I've already gone through all the what ifs. It'll be fine. The only person who can fight Madara and hope to live is Itachi. And I know the truth for sure now."

Naruto was silent, "who told you?"

"You knew?"

"Right before you came back, the elders told us. Was it Sakura?"

"I asked Hokage-sama and she wouldn't give me a straight answer, and now you just verified it. Thank you."

Naruto bit his lip, "I want to come with you."

"Naruto, he has control of the nine-tails. You'd only empower him." The blonde leaned against the kitchen counter in thought while Sasuke continued, "the best way you can help out is stay here and cover for me and Sakura. I need you to make clones of us while we're gone in case the elders send someone to check up on us."

"Sasuke…" he asked in a low, worried tone.

"What?"

"What about Sakura? How are you going to keep her safe while you fight Madara."

The Uchiha sighed, "I won't let her near the fight, and if she seems to be straining herself, I'll make her stop and rest.."

"Good." He replied lowly.

"So you'll do it?" Sasuke asked hesitantly.

"I don't have a choice, do I? And Tsunade-baachan isn't going to cover for you, I assume?"

"No, but she's not going to tell anyone we're gone either. It's up to us to find a way in and out of the village without being noticed."

Naruto's smile grew to that of a Cheshire cat, "That I can definitely help you out with."

* * *

After a long conversation with the lady of the house, Sasuke finally convinced Homura Haruno that Sakura's presence was needed quite possibly to save all of Konoha from eminent destruction. The woman let her daughter go quite reluctantly, and several times during the conversation called Sasuke a "user" and a "traitor", and almost threatening to spoil the plan to the elders. But because Sakura was involved, and Sakura would be punished, Homura had no other choice.

It was in the dead of night that their plan would be put into action. Sasuke wasn't quite sure what Naruto had in plan to help them get out of the village, but the blonde assured him that they would be able to walk out of the main gates without an eye to see them.

They waited in the trees and watched as Naruto sauntered up to the desk where Kotesu and Izumo sat guarding the gate. But it wasn't _quite _Naruto. While still the thick-headed, loudmouthed idiot Sasuke pegged him to be on the inside, the outside of the blonde had dramatically changed from muscle to rounded curves and long lashes. Oh. It was _Naruko_.

As "she" sauntered up to the two guards, Sasuke could vaguely hear her doing her best interpretation of a drunk woman with no clue how to get home. Overtaken by hormones and the desire to be "gentlemen", the two guards began to escort the scantily clad young "girl" back into the village.

Sasuke had to hand it to the idiot as he watched "her" giggle and flirt with the two blushing men—the jutsu _was_ a distraction, and it did the job. Once Sasuke sensed that they were completely alone near the gate, a blur of pink and black ran out of the village without so much as a hiccup in their getaway.

The two of them traveled until daybreak, when they came across a small village near the border of the fire country. Having trouble keeping her eyes open, Sakura could no longer carry on walking. They took shelter in an inn for a morning siesta until afternoon when they would head out again.

Lying on the mat, Sakura yawned, stretching her arms out behind her and curled up on her side.

"Mmm…goodnight." She said, grinning as she closed her eyes. She would never know that Sasuke was smiling as he laid out his mat next to hers.

"Hm. Good-_day_." He corrected, but softly, non-woundingly. He laid next to her in the room, and it was the first time since their tryst in the cave that they had really had any time to themselves, this close…this intimate.

Dust particles sparkled as they floated in the sunbeams slipping through the shades. Sakura's calm and even breathing was a peace to his heart that he had never known. Before, he would have pushed her away or slept on the other side of the room, but now, he wanted—no, _needed_ to be next to her, with her.

He thought about what she had said to him while he was still being kept under guard in the prison. He had made it clear that he wanted to marry her, but she had made it even clearer that she would not marry a man that didn't love her.

He wanted to marry her…he wanted to call her his wife, and not for the sake of having a complete family or a woman to watch over the family. He wanted to take her hand in marriage so she could never be taken away from him…so that he could keep her, love her, hold her until death.

Sasuke couldn't believe the sentiment that was arising in his heart, but he was done fighting it. His father, in the very few words of wisdom that he ever shared, had told his Sasuke not to walk in his older brother's footsteps, yet all his life had been spent doing exactly that every step of the way. According to Madara, Itachi had apparently had a lover before the massacre. He had even killed her in his duties, something that Sasuke couldn't imagine. If Itachi really had preferred to kill his lover over his younger brother, then Sasuke wondered what his older brother's definition of "love" truly was.

When he looked at the prime example of happy, loving couple, the first model that came to mind was his own parents. And if it was okay for his father to fall head over heels for his warm, cheerful mother…then maybe it was okay for him to fall in love with this pink headed cherry blossom as well. If his father smiled at his mother and told her that he loved her, then maybe it was okay for him to show those emotions to the woman carrying his child. The Uchiha name wouldn't be weakened, and for all the love and devotion Sakura had shown him in the past, he knew she would never hurt him.

It finally dawned on him—he could be vulnerable around her, and he'd be alright.

He could hold her and it wouldn't burn him.

He could love her, like he wanted to, and he could be happy.

As Sakura hummed in her sleep, Sasuke shifted and wrapped his arm around her, curling next to her, letting her back rest against his chest. She briefly came to the surface, mumbling his name and adjusting her position in his embrace before falling back asleep.

And as he kissed behind her ear, he genuinely smiled, and he liked it.

* * *

RA: I hope you all enjoyed that little bit of fluffy romantic-ness between the two lovebirds. I'm really surprised, Chapter 11 took me forever to write, but I had most of this written in a day, then I finished it and cleaned it up a few days later. I'm quite happy with it.

And oh my gosh, you reviewers make my day. I actually fangirl squealed when I read one of them! And I was reminded—the latest chapter (425) now fits perfectly with the prologue D: But I highly doubt Sasuke's actually going to come back to Konoha to steal Sakura away. Wouldn't that be a twist though, eh?

Read and Review! Thank youuuu~!


	14. Awakening

Note: this chapter was edited for some slight grammar and spelling mistakes.

**Chapter 13:** Awakening

x-x-x

The afternoon came soon, and Sasuke awoke first to the sleeping girl in his arms. Vaguely, somewhere in the back of his mind, he thought _I could get used to this_.

Shaking her lightly, he prompted her to awake so they could get moving. They had a lot to accomplish in a short amount of time, and they had already spent a good deal of the day sleeping. She groggily opened her eyes and took a minute to adjust to the new surroundings, reminding herself that this is where she had landed early in the morning. She smiled at Sasuke, relaxed and cozy by his side, reveling in the warmth between them and tempted to curl up to him even further.

"We need to get going." he explained softly.

She stretched her arms above her head and yawned, groaning out at the feeling of her back muscles unwinding, then relaxed with a sigh. "Yeah..." she agreed, her tone voicing her reluctance to leave this pleasant place with him. She sat up and pushed the blankets off her thin frame, revealing the soft skin of her lower back that peaked out from behind the bunched-up pajama tops.

Catching his breath in his throat, he couldn't get over how this girl had completely changed his heart. Smiling at her messy bed-head, he reached out to grab her slender wrist, "Hey..." he called out softly, causing her to look back at him slightly off-guard. Quickly, he leaned forward to capture her lips in a chaste kiss, which turned into more as Sakura grabbed at the soft cotton of his shirt and pulled him closer. He soon found himself on top of her, careful not to press against her stomach and he straddled her and kissed her passionately.

She pulled away breathlessly for air, and smiled, "Now that's a better wake-up call. You didn't even say good-morning."

"Hn." he smirked, "That's because its not morning anymore."

She glanced over at the clock on the wall to see that indeed, it was past noon-time. Turning back to face him, she ran her slender fingers through his silky, ebony hair, gazing into his dark eyes contentedly. "Why couldn't it have just been this way from the start?" she chuckled, massaging the back of his neck at his hairline.

He hummed at the pleasurable feeling of her massaging his stiff neck muscles. He could feel her chakra working to relax them and was suddenly very glad she was a medical ninja--he definitely could get used to professional massages after long missions. Remembering her earlier question, he smirked, "Do you need a recap of everything that's happened in the last three or four years?"

letting her hands fall away from his neck, she raised one and poked his chest, which was still hovering above her own, "you're to blame for most of it." she chided playfully.

"Fine..." he sat up and moved over to his mat, pretending to ignore her and roll up his sleeping mat.

She grinned, wrapping her arms around his back, resting her head on his shoulder, "But I forgive you." she said then began to place gentle butterfly kisses down his neck.

"We really need to get moving though." he replied, and she sat back, crossing her arms and huffing in a child-like manner.

"Fine, you're no fun." she pouted. Sasuke raised a slender black eyebrow, and she relaxed, smiling as normal and began to get ready as well.

Back out on the road, they headed towards the closest one of Orochimaru's prisons. He was thankful for the remote location, knowing that word probably hadn't reached the prison that the great snake master was dead. It took them only until nightfall to reach the location on the edge of the fire country.

The air was crisp and cold, having only passed the first of march. The first star peaked in the twilight sky, the sun surrendered its glory to the dark and ethereal. Sasuke felt the shiver run up his spine as he reached the small cave, which he knew was much more than it appeared to be. He could remember the screams of Orochimaru's test patients, the groans and growls of the helplessly dark and lost.

"Stay here." He commanded softly, quietly, as to not alert their presence before he entered.

"Why can't I come with you?"

"You'll lessen my credibility. If I say I want a prisoner under Orochimaru's orders, the prison keeper will wonder what I'm doing carrying around a pregnant woman."

She couldn't argue with his logic, but she didn't want to let him go in there alone. Sensing her concern, he set a hand on her shoulder softly, "I'll be fine."

She sighed, annoyed at having to let him go, and walked over to a pile of rocks, lifting them out of her way, "Fine, just hurry." She said, using her strength to move the rocks into a place for her to hide behind.

Sasuke had to smirk at the sight. Here was this tiny, pregnant girl, moving boulders that weighed at least 200 pounds like it was nothing. Waiting for her to crouch behind the boulders, out of sight, he headed into the dark cave and triggered his sharingan for better visibility.

The cave twisted and turned until a large cavern full of prison cells were revealed. Sasuke shivered internally, but remembered to relax his body and appear unaffected by the sour environment. The place reeked of sewers and filth, the cavern walls moist and most likely growing mold and algae in the darkest places.

Walking along the rows of convicts, he felt a presence above him, and looked to see the jail keeper crouching on the bottom of the ledge above him, but hanging upside down, much like a bat.

"Well well, Uchiha Sasuke. What's your business here?"

"I need one of your prisoners. Gentsu."

"Eh? What's Orochimaru-sama need him for?"

Sasuke smirked. So his prediction was correct—the keeper still didn't know that the old sanin was long dead…and Sasuke wasn't planning to tell him. Sasuke shrugged at the jailor's previous question, "I'm not privy to his experiments. Just hurry up and give him to me."

The cell keeper cocked his head to the side and smiled, before doing a flip and landing on his feet before Sasuke, "As you wish. He's that way." The jailer pointed behind Sasuke, and urged him to walk in the said direction.

Sasuke was wary of the prison holder, Dakatou, knowing that cocky smirk a mile a way. That being said, he had the man on his back, the blade of Kurosagi pressed against his throat when Dakatou tried to attack Sasuke from behind.

"Damn, you really... were... his apprentice." The prison keeper coughed out.

"Just give me the keys and tell me where Gentsu is." Sasuke growled, pinning the man with his weight.

"And why should I?" Dakatou asked haughtily.

Sasuke raised his other hand, the bluish silver sparks of light screeching around it. "still don't get it?" Sasuke nudged the blade closer into the man's neck.

"He's in cell…gck…56…the key's…in my pocket."

The chidori transferred from his hand to the blade, effectively slicing off Dakatou's head with the slightest amount of pressure. Sasuke stood up and searched through the pocket of the corpse, finding the keys.

"Hey! You gonna let us out now?" The prisoners in the cell near by clamored.

"Yeah, please!?" the other asked.

Sasuke ignored the pleas and walked past, emotionless. These guys were psychotic killers, much like he had though of his own brother. But the difference was that they deserved to starve and live out a horrible death due to their crimes. This prison was special in that it was where Orochimaru kept the worst of the worst--the ones who actually committed crimes and were wanted by various shinobi nations.

He knew that once he took Gentsu out of the cell, it would be like handling hot coals. He had to be careful and hurry to the place where Itachi was buried.

Upon arriving at the cell, he was pleased to find that the jail keeper wasn't lying—the large man resembled Juugo in his frame, and evil Juugo in his attitude. The only difference was that this man thrived to kill, whereas Juugo never wanted to hurt a soul.

Sasuke stood and waited for Gentsu to notice him outside of his cell. "Gentsu," he called.

"Ohhh…it's Sasuke-sama…" the man said with a little wary laugh, he turned around to face Sasuke, revealing bandages placed over his eyes. "You'll have to excuse me, _sir_, but my previous cell mates thought it would be funny to gouge my eyes out, so alas, I cannot see you."

Sasuke shuddered internally. What would happen if he went blind? His life would be over. Being unable to see with his sharingan—the thing which made him most powerful—much less not even being able to see his own child...it would be like losing his life.

"Gentsu, I am freeing you."

The man let out a laugh, though it was devoid of life, "Sasuke-sama, thank you, but being freed or in prison…its all the same to me now.."

Though the crimes Sasuke had heard this man had committed were awful, right now Sasuke could see that the man himself had suffered quite a bit in this prison.

"Where I'm taking you is much better than this."

Gentsu looked up, though his eyes couldn't find the source of the voice, "Thank you." He whispered, his voice shaking slightly.

Sasuke knew to stay on guard, despite the man's seeming repentance. Opening the cell, he was thankful that the man didn't charge at him or make any move to kill him. Instead, Gentsu sat in the corner, ball chained to his ankle, in complete compliancy.

Guiding the blind man out of the cell, Sasuke could feel the relaxed muscles in the man's arm, signaling that he was either completely vulnerable, or confident enough in his own abilities that he didn't need to be defensive. But unlike Dakatou, Gentsu made no move to attack Sasuke, and actually leaned heavily on the younger shinobi for guidance as they walked. Sasuke had to keep calm and collected as he walked by the dozens of faces clamoring to be let out—despite their crimes, they all were lives, emotions, people whose blood stains were the same as his own. The difference? He had been given the power of judgment, and they were the judged.

He had always anticipated death—the death of his brother, Orochimaru, of the elders, Danzo, Madara, and eventually, his own. He had never focused on life—on saving the living, on helping the living, on enjoying the living.

Funny how one child changed all that. Now, he had to fight down the urge to let all the prisoners free and give them second chances. _Damn, I really am getting soft. _He hardened his gaze and led Gentsu out of the cave faster to keep himself from having second thoughts.

Outside of the cave, Sakura watched the entrance from her crouched position in her man-made shelter. Her face lit up with joy as she watched Sasuke escort a man out of the cavern and into the forest opening.

"Sakura…" he called out, and the pink haired medic-nin jumped up, the leaves rustling around her as she ran out to greet him.

"Is he…" she paused, looking at the worn shinobi and pointing at the bandages around his head.

"Check." He nodded, and Sakura stood back as far as she could, hovering her glowing hands over Gentsu's face, analyzing the face underneath the wraps.

Sakura let her hands rest by her side and nodded, "he's blind, alright."

"What was your first clue, girlie?" the man asked sarcastically, but not bitterly.

"Come on, we have a ways to go, and I want to get there before dawn." Sasuke explained, tugging the man in the said direction. "Do you need me to carry you?" he asked Gentsu.

The man scratched the back of his head, "I think so. I haven't worked my muscles in years. I'll slow you down."

Sakura looked at Sasuke confusedly. Why was this man so willing to go with them? What did Sasuke tell him? She wanted to ask, but she would have no chance while this man was still with them. Taking off into the trees, she was thankful that she could still hop branches at this point in her pregnancy. Kurenai was bound to have her child soon, and could barely even walk at times.

It had to be around two or three in the morning when they finally reached the site where two brothers met in a battle of blood in all aspects. It was a battle between a blood bond, for the blood that had been shed, and of blood that would be spilled.

The place, a disaster of displaced rocks and walls seemed so eerily calm as Sasuke walked across the same battlefield that had changed him in so many ways. The passing seasons and rains had washed away all of the blood, sweat and many tears, but he could still see them staining every corner and jagged edge of broken stone. The calm cool night seemed to mock the memories Sasuke held of the stormy, bruising weather that fit so well with their fight.

Sakura watched his expression carefully as she studied his face. Sasuke showed absolutely no emotion, but she had quickly learned that this was his way of expressing everything he felt. Inside, she could tell that he was experiencing more emotions than she could probably imagine. However, in order for a shinobi whose life had been solely focused on defeating on someone who left a bloody trail of emotions and heartache, she knew Sasuke had no choice but to pretend like it didn't phase him so he could focus on his goal. It had become a way of life, and something she would definitely have to help him with.

Sasuke helped her walk over the rocky crumbled debris of what used to be a great hideout, while carrying Gentsu on his back. The stone was sharp and cold, jutting out haphazardly and posing a threat to those who dare cross it. But Sasuke was determined. He led them down into the hideout which was cracked open to the night air and crumbling from the weight of their bodies, which had previously walked over the unstable ceiling. The room was hollow and their footsteps echoed against the war torn walls--Sakura wondered in amazement...she would have liked to known what those walls saw.

"Sasuke..."she whispered out gently.

"hm?" he asked, walking over to a broken stone chair on the far end of the room. Light from the moon outside was filtering through a crack in the ceiling, illuminating the chair in an ethereal glow. Sasuke would have found it ironic, had his heart not been beating a thousand miles an hour.

"What if...he's too..." Sakura trailed, off, not wanting to be graphic, "decomposed?"

Sasuke smirked and set Gentsu down for a moment; the man had fallen fast asleep. "Itachi's not the only one who liked to plan ahead." He raised his hand, the blue glow of his lightning-type chakra surrounding his hand into a honed blade, much like one he used to kill Orochimaru with. He moved around the back of the chair and cut it right in half. At first it seemed like nothing happened, but Sakura watched in amazement as the crack became visible and the two sides of the chair fell away from eachother, revealing an underground tunnel.

"Follow me." He instructed hauling gentsu onto his back again and jumping down into the hole. She approached cautiously, sitting on the edge and sliding down into it with his help

"Sasuke..." she said worriedly, once inside the small underpass.

"What, you scared?" he asked condescendingly, and she didn't even have to see to know he was smirking arrogantly.

"No! It's just that it doesn't seem smart to be walking in the dark." She growled.

"Nobody else knows of this place. Not even Madara." he glanced over at her. Their dark path suddenly opened up into a larger area, in which Sakura was thankful to be out of the damp, claustrophobic tunnel. They couldn't see where they had walked into, but from the ammount of echo, Sakura guessed that the room they arrived in wasn't very large. Sasuke then turned and walked a little to his right and set gentsu down against the stone wall; Sakura watched in fascination as Sasuke light a small fire in the palm of his hand and used it to light a torch hanging from one of the walls. Sakura could see suddenly that the room in fact was rather small--only about 12 feet wide by 12 feet long. She could see the shadowy sillhouette of a figure laying on a stone table in the center of the room, but couldn't make out the features--that is, until Sasuke lit the second torch.

"Oh my god!" she turned around, grasping the wall for support as she wanted to puke. The body seemed like it had only died just yesterday, but the sight of the bloody, dead corpse was much more than she expected when she saw the room. "You could have warned me!" she shrieked.

Sasuke went about lighting the room. "Well this is what we came for..."

"The first thing I expect to see when a dark room is lit is NOT a dead body!" She whispered as loudly as possible, not wanting to wake Gentsu but still wanting to voice her displeasure.

Sasuke ignored her cries and walked up behind her, gently turning her around to face the body. "I need you to get used to it. You're a medical ninja...you can handle this."

Sakura closed her eyes and took a deep breath. He was right, she could do this, it was just a non-moving human body. But it was...Itachi. The thought of reviving him of all people never before seemed to be a good idea, and she was still having a hard time getting into that frame of mind. Furthermore, she desperately wanted to know what was going through Sasuke's head. Surely the sight of his brother dead like that disturbed him to some degree, but he was, as always, talented at hiding such emotions. She had to remind herself that, again, he probably was feeling more than she could know.

Sasuke went to work drawing the seals around the body on the table, which were two large circles composed of the names of the hand seals used in this revival jutsu. By the time he was done, it looked as if two large suns were drawn on the floor, one around itachi, and one where Gentsu would be placed, with a single line of kanji connecting the two limp bodies. As she waited for Sasuke to finish the seals, Sakura read over the revival jutsu instruction scrolls that Sasuke had managed to grab before he left Orochimaru. There was no doubt that years of research went into creating this jutsu, and Sakura marveled at how the snake sanin had managed to harness the power of the human life force. She set to work on memorizing the hand seals and delicate chakra control which would be used in this procedure.

When both were finished, Sasuke placed Gentsu in the circle, the two bodies--one dead, one living-- laying on their backs, palms facing upwards. Sasuke took a deep breath, then looked over at Sakura, who was staring at the two of them. She seemed to be in a daze, but he knew from his time with her, that she was actually meditating on the instructions she had just received.

"Ready?" she asked, looking up at him, and only received a curt not in reply. Standing up from her crouched position on the floor, she took the scrolls and laid them next to her as she kneeled back on the floor just below the two seals. The pink haired medic took a deep breath, half feeling guilty about taking the life of a man who was hardly expecting it and half nervous that she screw up the jutsu.

Sasuke watched intently as she began the life-transfer jutsu, the kanji he had drawn on the floor illuminating with her green chakra, then Gentsu's. The line that connected the two men illuminated blue with the color of Gentsu's chakra being transferred to his brother. Sakura quickly but carefully made the hand signs instructed in the scroll, then placed her palms flat on the ground, each one touching the respective seal on the ground.

She panted hard as she controlled her and gentsu's chakra as precisely and delicately as possible, but controlling the flow of so much chakra was becoming increasingly difficult with each second--yet she knew she had to do this. Not just for Sasuke, for konoha, or for her revenge on Madara. She wanted to do this for herself--it was the ultimate test of her ability as a medical ninja, and if she could do this, there was hardly anything she couldn't do.

Sasuke on the other hand was quite pleased with Sakura's innate ability to perform such a complex jutsu so flawlessly. He watched as the blue light died down while the last of Gentsu's chakra was drained from his body. He then turned his attention to Itachi as Sakura finished the jutsu with a few more hand-seals. When it was all over, she sat back, exhausted, and looked up at the table. She still had to heal many of Itachi's wounds, or else he would simply die again.

Sasuke helped her stand up and guarded her as she moved toward the table. Letting her hands hover over the bloodied body, she focused on patching torn muscles and curing the illness which had apparently been plaguing Itachi for so long. It was a virus that mimicked the effects of poison, and shaped itself like such. In fact, it looked like a very familiar poison.

"Do you have water?" she asked, and sasuke reached into his bag to pull out a small canteen. She took a bowl sitting on a table off to the side of the room and poured the canteen into the bowl. After minutes of pulling the poison-like virus out of his system, she concluded that it was a strain much like Sasori's poison, and may very well have been made by Orochimaru, but concealed to look like it was Sasori's.

Suddenly, the body beneath her hands shifted, and she jumped back into Sasuke, who immediately stepped in front of her. She watched in shock and wonderment as Itachi literally came back to life, sitting up on the table, and looking around to take in his surroundings. The man looked up to see the face of his younger brother and a pink haired girl behind him, and smirked.

"Didn't get enough, Otouto?" the man looked down at his hands and shifted his muscles. It was as if he had been not only brought back to life, but completely healed. "And I suppose that girl was the one who brought me back?"

"Don't change the subject, aniki." Sasuke snapped, then looked down and said quietly, "I know the truth. You can stop playing the villan."

Sakura watched as an faint expression of shock and bewilderment crossed the older Uchiha's face.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Sasuke, but you've made a grave mistake in bringing me back."

"Stop with the fucking bullshit! I know its true, I confirmed it with the hokage, who was told by the elders. Plus...what you said right before you died..." Sasuke looked up at him with tears in his eyes. It was the very first time Sakura had ever seen him cry--she turned away, feeling as if she was stepping in on something she had no business witnessing.

Itachi's face contorted into anger as he looked away. Sasuke could only guess that his older brother was pissed off that he found out the truth.

"So what did you bring me back for?" he asked in a hushed, annoyed growl.

"To help me kill Madara."

Sakura heard a snort, followed by billowing laughter. She turned to see the older sharingan-user laughing.

"That's the thing...you can't." Itachi shook his head, "Oh god, what a mess this has become."

"What do you mean, you can't kill him?" Sakura finally asked and the two brothers finally seemed to remember her presence.

Itachi looked over at her, noting the obvious baby-bump which curved her stomach, then smirked at Sasuke, "What's this? You're already working on reviving the clan? Foolish Otouto."

Sasuke growled, "Condescending as always. Stop changing the subject. Why can't we kill him?"

"Because he's far more powerful than either you or I."

"But you know how it is...an eye for an eye. Only those with the sharingan are a match for another sharingan. You must know about his fighting style...his weaknesses."

Itachi smirked, "Even if I do, what says I'll help you?"

Sasuke looked at him curiously, "are you kidding me? You ...you played 'god' with my life then now that you've died you think you can just leave me to clean up the mess you made just like that?"

Itachi looked down at him with the same coal black eyes that had always haunted his dreams, his memories... and even when looking in the mirror, Sasuke could see traces of his older brother in himself. Those same aloof black orbs which hid so much emotion and ulterior motives. But Sasuke could read them like a book.

"I'm going to fight him whether you like it or not. But I know from how you spared me among the rest of the clan that you wouldn't let that sacrifice, those years in akatsuki, the lies and pain you put me and yourself through to make me stronger... that you would not let it all go to waste."

Itachi glared at him. He knew Sasuke was right--he wasn't going to let the boy fight Madara alone, especially not while he would be leaving a son and loved one behind. "Fine. I will help you."

* * *

RA: Oh yeah! Who was right? I was! Chapter 455 was bomb. The whole kakashi musing over tobi=madara thing was epic, seeing as I wrote that about 6 months ago. And then the end! Though I refuse to believe that Itachi was tricked by the likes of Danzo. I absolutely refuse.


	15. Metamorphosis

**EDIT: **Now that finals are FINALLY over, I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere at my grandparents in New Hampshire and I have a break from the raucous, I was able to go back and fix up this chapter. I edited some spelling and grammar errors, including awkward sentences and missing words. I apologize for such poor quality writing, as I had four essays due prior to when this was published—I think I just exhausted myself. Merry Christmas, and if I have my way, I may pop out Chapter 15 before Christmas! (Pun intended ;P )

**Chapter 14: Metamorphosis**

The passage of two months saw a strange inactivity on Akatsuki's part and a seeming peace within Konoha. Killer Bee was found alive and with explanations from the Uchiha, the hot-tempered Kumogakare leader was put at ease to have his brother back alive. And Sasuke could relate.

Itachi stayed with Sasuke in hiding—Tsunade placed special ANBU soldiers to protect the apartment and ensure Danzo did not employ his root members to spy on them. Itachi would go out disguised in a jutsu as Sakura, and they always planned it to make sure Sakura was seen going into the house first before leaving. The brothers trained away from the village, or sometimes even snuck into the famed Forest of Death for intense sessions. Looking back, the place wasn't nearly as scary as it had been during the Chunin exams, but then again, he didn't have a creepy snake sanin trying to near kill him either, nor several other competitive ninjas trying to catch him off guard. Though, truth be told, Itachi could be scary when angered and taunted, as Sasuke found out. But they never hurt each other more than a few broken bones—although both faced the wrath of Sakura when they returned in such a state, as she was their personal medic.

Being, well, dead, had taken a toll on the famed ex-akatsuki. His movement slowed from his muscles having been arrested for so long, though he still was quite agile for most shinobi. His eyes were restored as well. Turns out, there was one more secret of the Uchiha's that the two had managed to unlock—Death was the completeness of darkness, but rebirth brought back the light. Sasuke was comforted to know that his brother would have no temptation to take his eyes, though he himself was starting to feel the effects of the mangekyo's draw towards darkness.

But having his brother, the real Itachi from his childhood, brought back to life and by his side made it so Sasuke would rather give up his own life than lose Itachi again. He was beginning to feel what it might have been like if he had grown up never experiencing the massacre, Orochimaru or killing his own brother. It was as if bit by bit he was being put back together.

Sakura was progressing well in her pregnancy. On their journey back to Konohagakure after reviving Itachi, the three stopped back at the fortune teller's hut. She informed Sakura that she could now name the child whatever she wished. Sasuke was coming back into the village's good graces and the child would be respected and have a normal childhood regardless of his name. However, not all of the predictions were picture perfect either…they still had many issues to deal with, specifically Madara.

Upon arriving back in Konoha, Sasuke found Naruto had left a dent Sasuke's apartment wall from where juugo had punched him. One look from the younger Uchiha had both of their tails between their legs. Naruto had explained that Juugo had seen through his impersonation, and wanted to test the Sasuke look-a-like to see if it truly was his ex-leader. One dent and a sore blonde proved Juugo's theory correct.

Soon afterwards Naruto was called away by gamabunta to train and prepare for akatsuki. Sasuke was sent on one mission with his former Sensei as it was one which called for sharingan abilities. The elders, however hesitant to reuse the ex-missing nin couldn't deny that having a fully developed sharingan on their side –one which did not render the user near-immobile—was to their extreme advantage. Tsunade vied for him against the elders and mainly Danzo, explaining that it was a way they could test his loyalty and gain a highly skilled shinobi on their side

Sakura began staying at Sasuke's more often to the point of living there. It had happened gradually, but since Itachi would use her image to go out, it simply worked out for the better. When Sasuke had left on his mission, she had gotten to know Itachi better, finding herself so intrigued at how truly kind and peaceful the man was; he was so unlike who she had imagined him to be. Sasuke had told her what Madara had said about the massacre—that among his family and friends, Itachi had even taken the life of a supposed lover. Feeling brave during one of their deeper conversations, Sakura ventured to ask him about this.

"It's okay…I suppose I probably shouldn't have asked." She mumbled as she sat sideways on the couch, tea in her hand. They had been having a rather deep conversation about her relationship with Sasuke, and she began to wonder, as Itachi never mentioned a relationship himself, if he had one in the past. When she questioned him on what Sasuke had told her, Itachi grew silent and looked away. She bit her lip at his reaction then added, "Nevermind. It was out of line. I apologize."

"No!" he started quickly, then repeated softly "No…it's alright." He let out a sigh, letting his head fall on the back of the sofa and closed his eyes. "It's only difficult to say because…the relationship wasn't a very…acceptable one. And then of course having to kill him…"

Sakura's mouth fell open slightly. So Itachi played the other team? Well, looking at him she suddenly could see it a mile away. The man had a beautiful, effeminate facial structure. He was peaceful and not like most of the male shinobi she knew. Itachi let out a quick chuckle as he saw her expression. "Not just that. But he was my kin. Disgusting, I know."

Now she was at a loss for words, "I…no, I er. Well I suppose you love who you love…" she wanted to smack herself in the face. Now she made him think of bad memories and embarrass himself. She felt awful.

He chuckled at her once again, "It's alright. It's in the past." He looked at her with eyes of sadness, though he had a slight smile on his face. She could tell this was only to mask the pain.

She glanced down at her cup, then over at the coffee table. There was a photo of younger Sasuke and his family posing for a picture. She suddenly felt like she was beginning to understand where exactly Sasuke came from. This seemingly peaceful family was falling apart at the seams from the very beginning. Their tragedy was writ before their lives even existed.

One hand wandered to her stomach as a motherly action of protection. She wanted to keep her child from it all. If Itachi and Sasuke could start anew, could it mean a new era for the Uchihas? A clean, respectable family like many of Konoha's other clans? Or would history simply repeat itself?

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Itachi hid as Sakura answered, only to find Sai standing by himself at the door. "Konoha's under attack. Kakashi's team spotted Akatsuki heading towards the village. They're holding them off, but Hokage-sama wanted me to give this to you." He informed, handing her a scroll.

She scrambled to open it, and read the paper quickly,

"Send I. Sasuke's got M. They're past the NW gate."

She looked up at the ink user with her face in panic. "Thank you." she nodded then shut the door, without saying goodbye. All she could think of was the danger her lover was currently in.

"Itachi!" she called, and he appeared out of the bedroom, "we've got trouble."  


* * *

The movements seemed like a blur. Naruto was summoned back to Konohagakure, yet much of the land had been destroyed. Kakashi, Tsunade, Shizune and Hinata were all down for the count, and Sakura had all she could do to heal the rest of her fellow shinobi while not straining herself too much. Looking to the northwest, she saw a large ball of fire rage towards the sky. She couldn't help it. She could no longer heal her comrades, and at this point, anyone who was badly injured would most likely die due to the destruction of the village hospital. She couldn't heal everyone, and she knew the other medics could cover for her in her absence. She needed to find Sasuke and Itachi. Even though it was foolish, something inside her told her that she needed to go to them.

Running over the rubble and debris from the battles that were taking place, Sakura ran northwest in the direction of their battle. Various shinobi wondered at her actions and yelled after her, but she ignored them. A sense of urgency washed over her and she looked back to see Naurto still fighting the orange haired Akatsuki member. Her two most precious people were fighting for their lives against possibly the strongest foes they'd ever met while her ex sensei was presumed dead…and she felt absolutely useless amongst it all.

Running through the trees she watched as the three fought intensely against Madara. Itachi was bleeding from his arm, but the masked man seemed to have taken quite a beating as well. Madara stood in the middle of the two, and all three had exhaustion written on their faces. Yet they didn't go into this battle without a plan.

The sky was clouded over with grey skies. They couldn't use Sasuke's finishing Kirin jutsu to take him down…Madara was expecting that. Cool rain began to patter on the hot ground, causing a mist to arise and make the ground look as if it were smoking. Realizing he could once more use nature to his advantage, Sasuke cast a katon jutsu radially, close to the surface of the earth. The ground was heated then quickly cooled by the rain, letting off more steam, and in turn, more fog.

Sasuke used this fog to his advantage. It would only merely delay the famed Uchiha leader, but it would provide enough distraction to put their plan into effect. Sakura had once used her position as the Hokage's apprentice to her advantage to read up on the Uchiha clan—it seemed that the village knew more about the clan's secrets than had been written in the clan's secret meeting room. From the torn pages, Itachi came up with a theory that Madara himself took the information from the clan's book of secrets and offered the few pages to Konoha as a gesture of peace before rebelling. Itachi added that Madara probably did not want his fellow clansmen to find out about the powerful jutsu, for fear they might try to usurp his position.

And it would be alright to give the information to konoha, since Madara would never be able to use the jutsu himself. Unlike like most of the clan's hidden jutsus and ocular powers, this jutsu required cooperation between two Uchiha clansmen or kin wielding the mangekyo sharingan.

In synchronized movements, the two brothers knelt on the ground, forming hand signs faster than the naked eye could perceive. Palms flat on the ground, a line of chakra was run from Sasuke's hands, through the earth, and across the way over to Itachi's palms. Standing up quickly, the two held one hand outwards, parallel and flat towards the ground. The chakra line ran from that hand to the ground and remained connected to each brother. The two ran in a circle around Madara, returning to their original positions. Forming a few more handsigns, Sasuke could see Madara lunging at him, but he had to finish the jutsu. Kneeling back down on the ground, he placed his hands flat on the ground, knowing that he was in Madara's line of attack. As they finished the jutsu, the earth opened up in a black hole of hell, as cries of spirits and otherworldly creatures reached out from the underworld to grasp at the portal which had been created. The circle which the two ran around in had created a barrier, keeping Madara and the spirits from escaping. Sasuke and Itachi stared down the akatsuki leader with blood red mangekyou eyes, and black shadows began to engulf Madara—things which looked like arms and fangs pulled him into the black underground abyss. Once in, the two formed three more hand signs, palms flat on the ground, and the hole closed up.

However, as Sasuke had been in Madara's line of attack, he bore the brunt of a last attempt to stab his chest with his own sword, fallen and knocked out of his grasp during the battle. Sasuke only had barely managed to finish the jutsu before falling over on his side, clutching at his wound.

Sakura watched in horror as she ran towards him out of the forest, intent on healing him as soon as possible.

"What…are you doing?" he asked weakly, as his eyes spun down from the red mangekyo down to the onyx color she knew and loved. Her form began to blur as his eyes weakly fell closed . She moved his blood soaked hand that was holding his chest to see that Madara had stabbed close to the heart. It would take a lot of time and chakra to heal his wound, both things she had very little of.

Itachi, though wounded, was able to run over to his little brother as the fog subsided and help. "We need to get him to the hospital."

She sighed, "the hospital's been destroyed. There's no time, I'll have to heal him now." Itachi pulled off his dull grey cloak and held it over her and Sasuke to keep the rain from impeding the healing process. She began, moving her glowing green hands over his chest and concentrating her chakra on assessing the wound. She gasped as she realized just how badly wounded he was. Focusing harder, she began to heal the wounds as fast and carefully as she could. Sweat and tears began to run down her cheeks as she felt his pulse begin to drop dramatically. Working harder, she began to feel the rest of her chakra draining from her as she worked, but still his pulse dropped…

And dropped.

And dropped.

She was close to finishing the wound, heartbeat racing, breath coming in shallow pants as she took every ounce of energy to feeding his life back. With the last tissue finally closing within his heart, she felt his pulse finally begin to increase. With one sigh of relief, she watched as his eyes fluttered open and he sat up, gripping his chest, feeling only a slight soreness. She collapsed into him, crying in relief, while he only looked at her with a lost face. With a hand from Itachi, he stood up, hoisting her up to her feet in his arms. She could finally breathe. And she was…so…so…tired…  


* * *

Arriving back in Konoha, Sasuke carried the pregnant woman unconscious in his arms over the cement and concrete rubble of destroyed buildings. There were simmers of fires beginning to die down and a large crowd up ahead to greet Konoha's hero. Sasuke held her bridal style in contentment, thankful she was only exhausted and not wounded. He had seen her in the bushes watching their fight, but he didn't want to alert Madara to her presence, or else she would be put in danger. He would have rather had a stab to the chest than see his most precious person put in danger against someone like Madara. Looking down at her, it was if his gaze awaked her. She woke up with a start, her hand immediately flying over her stomach. "Ohhh…" she winced, coming to her senses, "Sasuke?" she whined weakly

"Hm?"

"Owhhhhhh!" she howled, "I think…I think I'm going into labor!" she squeaked.

"Shit!" he looked around the mass of people crowded around Naruto after his victory against Pein. On the outskirts of the crowd was Shizune, the only medic he knew of that may be able to help Sakura.

As he approached the group from far away, her water broke, a sign of her pregnancy very soon coming to an end.

"Shizune! Help!" she called out.

The words, yelled from far away as he carried her over the rubble, caused many heads to turn from the crowd and to the approaching couple. Shizune lead them into a shack made with Yamato's quick thinking. It was a primitive birth at best, as many of the tools needed for a modern birthing experience were unavailable, thanks to Pein's destruction of the village. With the help of Ino, a few other mothers and Sasuke (who mainly held her hand for moral support), Sakura began to give birth.

Sasuke had never been so terrified in his life. Never before had he imagined that he would be in this position, watching his fiancée give birth to his child. The concept of the little human coming out from inside the womb of his wife-to-be had him wanting to pass out. Not even Orochimaru's regurgitation methods freaked him out that bad. Her screams of pain did nothing to help either.

After what seemed like forever, The baby came out with one last push and a horrifying scream. Sakura let her head fall back in exhaustion and actually began to fall asleep. The woman had pushed herself to the max, healing everyone, saving Sasuke from the brink of death, and then giving birth. She was definitely a much stronger woman than the whiny girl he remembered from his days as a 13 year old genin. Stroking her hair admirably, he then shifted his attention to the rest of the birthing crew as he noticed that everyone was awfully quiet

…especially the baby.  


* * *

**edit: **Read authors note at the beginning


	16. Fix You

**Chapter 15: Fix You  
**

People had gathered outside of the shack, waiting intently to hear the outcome of Sakura's labor. Sasuke emerged, walking silently through the crowd as it parted for him. His feet dragged over the rubble as a forlorn expression rippled across his face. He had gotten not but fifteen feet from the shack when he paused, the people especially close to team seven waiting for results and curious of his behavior. With his back turned to the crowd, he seemed to not even acknowledge them, time or the world at all. Looking up to the sky, he squinted as the sun peaked through clouds of ash and dust…all remnants of the shinobi life.

Was this the life they were born into? Would this be the life they would always live? With men dying in battle, children dying before their lives began? As women suffered over the loss of both their lovers and offspring, was this the life of the shinobi? Senju tried so hard for peace, but death would remain. And where there was love and death, there would always be bitterness. And where there was bitterness, there would always be revenge and war. Would the cycle of hate and love forever continue to clash, taking innocent lives in its wake?

Dropping his chin that he always held so high, he let the tears he had been holding back fall freely from his eyes. The people could only see the back of the young man, oblivious to his tears, but when his shoulders shook from the sorrowful sobs, they knew.

Naruto ran over to wrap a caring arm around his shoulders. For the first time in their friendship, he saw his best friend and rival completely vulnerable and humbled by sorrow as he crumpled in the blonde's arms . As his face grew wet and dingy from the tears and ash, Sasuke looked more like a wreck than the blonde had ever seen. A mournful announcement found its way out from behind the tears of anguish. "its…dead." He mumbled out and Naruto knelt and held him tighter as Sasuke lost the will to stand and fell to his knees. He had been looking forward to the child as much as his teammates had. Naruto looked up at their silver haired instructor and shook his head.

The door to the shack opened silently as the mothers and medic nins walked out of the shack in tears and solemn faces. Those who hadn't quite understood what had transpired finally got the message: the child was a stillborn.

Turning with his head hung low, Kakashi knew this sorrow all too well. Not miscarriages as much, but parents who lost their sons and daughters in battle. No matter what the age was, or the cause of death, it never became easy for a mother to bury her own child. He turned to walk into the shack when he spotted a familiar face approaching in the distance. Bloody and cloak-less, Kakashi knew this was not a face of the enemy.

At the top of the sloped hill they all stood on, Itachi paused and looked at the silver haired jonin for permission to enter the scene. Kakashi, having suspected his presence with Sasuke the whole time, nodded, then hung his head as he looked over at Itachi's younger brother shaking on the ground. Itachi walked down the hill to meet his former ANBU teammate.

"Kakashi." The ex-akatsuki bowed before the man. Upon raising, he smiled weakly and gave a quick, "Thank You" before walking on to meet the young wreck and take Naruto's place. A few people in the dispersing crowd gasped at the sight and change in relationship as they watched Itachi kneel in front of Sasuke to talk to him and calm him.

Turning on his heel from the scene, Kakashi dug his hands into his pockets and walked slowly over the debris and a short way up the hill to the shack. Opening the door, he saw Sakura lying on the wooden bed, the bundled child in her arms. She sat, simply staring out the window with a view of the rubble and open sores of the wounded land. Kakashi was heartbroken. The child was obviously not alive, but she held it close to her as if it were simply sleeping.

"Sakura?" he asked her quietly as she did not move an inch when he walked through the door. She did not even look at him. Walking over to her, he set a hand on her shoulder, causing her to finally and slowly turn her head in his direction. Her eyes were dull and her mouth curved in a flat line as they fell into a look of apathy. The only thing that gave away her hearts true emotion was the wet streaks of sorrow sliding down her puffy cheeks.

"What do I do from here?" She asked him in such a quiet voice that her words cracked.

"Live." He answered quietly, simply.

She looked down at the child and replied quietly, "That's not fair."

For the first time, Kakashi didn't know what to say. He always had some way to teach his students a lesson, some way to make them understand the world a bit better through simple words of wisdom. But not this time. What could you say to a mother who had lost her son before he had ever seen the world?

"Maybe it's a sign" she continued quietly, stroking the cheek of the child. Another large droplet fell down her cheek when she felt the coldness of the baby's soft skin, "What would become of a child born of two misbehaving teenagers? The child of a feared and bloodstained clan?"

"Nobody knows." Kakashi muttered, studying the wood grain of the floor as he hung his head.

"That's the damn truth." She grit her teeth as her façade began to break, "That fortune teller told me he'd be alive and respected, damnit!" Sakura yelled, "and look now! He's DEAD!" The rage of her emotions were so intense that they were, perhaps, more fearsome than the solemn apathy he previously witnessed. Her voice screeched in the small shack and echoed off the empty walls. They were truly the cries of a mother.

That evening, despite the massive battle, only one funeral was held. A small, makeshift procession was held for the child under a hanging sky of a heavy dark gray. The battle had been won. Akatsuki's leaders were gone. Yet team seven couldn't find the mood to celebrate. As the sky refused to cry for the child, the mother and father gathered around the gravesite, as well as Kakashi, Naruto, Sai and Itachi after the majority of those who had attended, left. Leaving the two to mourn, Itachi stepped away from the scene first, feeling mostly responsible for the incident. Had it not been his desire to keep the truth from his younger brother, Sasuke would have never resorted to sleeping with sakura and using her to revive him. Oh how his brother's life would have been so much better had he himself never existed.

Kakashi was the next to leave, feeling only sorrow for the two, but understanding the need for the two of them to be alone. Turning to leave, he hugged Sakura first and reached out to sasuke, giving him a reassuring grip on his shoulder. He had never had emotional, close contact with his students before. But then again, there had never been a tragedy on this scale with them, save for when Sasuke left. Team seven was always patchwork at best…but they were a family without even realizing it.

After sai and Naruto had followed suit and begun walking back to catch up with Kakashi, Sasuke wrapped his arm around the girl. She leaned into him, gripping his shirt and clinging close to him as her tears began to spill. Leaning over, he placed a kiss on her forehead, wet with his own salty tears.

And finally, the sky cried too.

* * *

Her cheeks glistened with the light of the moon shining in on her skin. In the dark, she cried as their lips connected. She poured out all of her emotion. Her heartache, her love, her confusion, her desire. Long slender arms wrapped around his neck as they held each other passionately, lovingly. He kissed her cheeks where the tears had streamed down and left little trails in their wake. He slid his lips unhurriedly down her neck to her collarbone and the gap between them, following the tears to the source of her pain and placing butterfly kisses over her right breast.

He worshipped her body—the woman he loved. Kissing over her stomach, he paused, resting his head and nuzzling the area there as his own tears threatened to fall. They needed each other, he found. He needed the reassurance of her love, as much as she did his. And he was wanted to give it to her so, so much. He wanted to show her what she meant to him. What her love did to him. Her physical and emotional love healed him, somehow. She had patched together the wounds that were tearing him apart from the very beginning. She exorcised the darkness within him, replacing it with her love and purity. And he wanted to do the same for her.

Something arcane and profound happened that night when he entered her. Fingers interlaced, he kissed her with all the emotion he could never speak, the feelings that could never be verbalized. It was if the dam burst open, the shackles and chains were cut apart. There were absolutely no words to describe it. She was pulling him down in a spiral of something deeper than he had ever felt before. And he found he never wanted to feel any other way.

As he moved within her, it was as if all her emotions began to take form in the warming tingling sensation of her impending orgasm. As he held her hands, getting lost in her green eyes, he saw her losing herself within his dark onyx ones. He could see everything within her, the ghost of the child rattling the cages of pain he was trapped in. With one last thrust she reached her peak, crying out loudly and releasing the ghost of the child in an ephiphianic, beautiful union. She gripped his hands painfully, but he held on, whispering the words "I love you" over and over again in her ear as he came within her.

Resting on top of her and still within her, he felt her shake as she began to sob into his neck. But as he stroked her hair, damp from their tears and her sweat, he understood that these were not tears of mourning or pain. They were tears of a feeling so profound that it shook them both to the core. It was love, it was deep understanding—something so beautiful that neither one could do anything but feel their souls being rattled by it.

And as he held her close, on their bed, in their house, in the moonlight, he studied the way her eyes shone when the moonlight hit them just right "I love you." He whispered stroking the tears away from her cheeks, "Marry me."

"I am…" she looked at him confused.

"No. I want to marry _you._ Not because we have to for a child's sake, not because it's acceptable. But because I want to be with you and love you for the rest of my life."

Pulling himself off the bed and walking over to the corner of the room, he reached within his bag and pulled out a woven pouch. Sakura watched him curiously, sitting up on top of the rumpled sheets, her body growing cold from the lack of contact and the cool air in the room. He returned to the bed, awed by her beauty as the moonlight shone in on the bed where she sat. She looked like a goddess, innocent and pure but with an inner strength to match that of the gods. Kneeling beside the bed, he opened the pouch and poured the contents of the bag in his hand. She gasped when she saw what he had.

Taking her hand, he placed a beautiful ring on her finger, kissing the backside of her hand as he did. She smiled, tears now rolling in happiness. "Sasuke…" she whispered, pulling him off the floor and back onto the bed. She rolled onto her back as he hovered over her.

"Lets do this the right way. We'll have a beautiful wedding, a beautiful family and a new beginning." He kissed her forehead lightly and she nodded.

And where there was death, there was a soul born again. Where a grave was laid, flowers grew. The soul that had once been pure, then tainted by darkness, was now wholly and beautifully resurrected once again.

_Lights will guide you home  
And ignite your bones  
And I will try to fix you.  
_

_

* * *

  
_

RA: Well there you go. I had a completely different ending in mind, but this really encapsulated everything I wanted to portray about their future. I want to say I really enjoyed all the reviews and favorites I got for this, and while it was difficult to write (Because I can never see Sasuke being anything like the guy at the end) I liked the challenge.

Until next time, Ja ne.


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